RAJAGOPALAN, J.

The assessee is a spinning mill at Tirupur. It was assessed to sales tax in the assessment year 1951-52 on its purchases of cotton for spinning under rule 4-A(iv) of the (Turnover and Assessment) Rules, which prescribed the single point for the levy of sales tax on tractions in cotton required by section 5(ii) of the Sales Tax Act. The relevant portion of rule 4-A(iv) as it then stood ran :

"4-A. Subject to the provisions of section 5 -

(iv) in the case of cotton (including kapas) the tax under section 3(1) shall be levied in accordance with the following provisions :-

(a) in the case of all cotton (including kapas) sold to a spinning mill in the State, the tax shall be levied from the spinning mill on the amount for which it is bought by it." *

The Tribunal, agreeing with the Department, held that the assessee's purchases of cotton, which had been imported from abroad, which amounted to Rs. 34, 61, 213-1-9 were liable to be taxed. It was the correctness of that decision which the assessee challenged before us in its application preferred under section 12-B of the Act.

The nature of the transactions was thus summed up by the Tribunal :

"The import of cotton fr