Electricity is "goods" within the meaning of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.

Tek Chand, J.

1. This is a writ petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India on behalf of M/s. Malerkotla Power Supply Company through its proprietor Shri Bhagwan Dass against the Excise and Taxation Officer, Sangrur, the Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab, and the State of Punjab, praying for issuance of an appropriate writ quashing the impugned orders of the Excise and Taxation Officer, Sangrur, and the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab, vide annexures D and F respectively.

2. The facts giving rise to this case are that Shri Bhagwan Dass was the sole owner of the Malerkotla Power Supply Company which supplies electricity which was made available to him by the Punjab State Electricity Board at 400 voltage and the petitioner-company in turn sells the same to its consumers and charges for the energy consumed. Under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, electricity was free from sales tax. Shri Bhagwan Dass owned another concern called M/s. B. D. Brothers, Malerkotla, which dealt with electrical goods and appliances. Under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, both these concerns had two separate certificates of registration in Form S.T. III. The sales tax numbers of these concerns were BAR III 2550 and BAR III 1924 respectively. Later on, the authorities decided that there should be one certificate of registration as Shri Bhagwan Dass was the proprietor of both the concerns and that it should be in Form S.T. IV as prescribed by Rule 5 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Rules.

3. On 1st of April, 1962, Shri Bhagwan Dass gifted his entire business which he was running under the name and style of M/s. B. D. Brothers, Malerkotla, to his son Shri Chaman Lal and his grandson Shri Prem Kumar in equal shares. Consequently he had to surrender the registration certificate No. BAR IV 1929 for having it amended in Form S.T. III. On 10th of April, 1962, he made an application submitting that since he had gifted M/s. B. D. Brothers, Malerkotla, to his son and grandson, his registration certificate No. RC BAR IV 1929 be converted into S.T. Ill in respect of M/s. Malerkotla Power Supply Company. One application was for registration under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act and the second under the Central Sales Tax Act, vide copies annexures A and B. Finally, M/s. B. D. Brothers, Malerkotla, were given a separate registration number both under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act and the Central Sales Tax Act. The petitioners application dated 1st of April, 1962, remained pending without a final decision having been communicated to him.

4. On 30th of December, 1963, the petitioner again made an application for the registration of Iris concern under both the Acts. This application was made to the Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer. The petitioner was orally informed that his earlier registration number in Form S.T. IV had been cancelled and that he should make a fresh application. He then submitted a new application which is on a printed form, vide copy annexure C. Shri G. K. Bhalla, Excise and Taxation Officer, Sangrur, rejected the application by his order dated 10th of January, 1964, vide annexure D, for the reason that M/s. Malerkotla Power Supply Company dealt exclusively in the distribution of electricity which was not "goods" as had been held by the Excise and Taxation Commissioner in the case of Kumar Textile Mills, Amritsar. A copy of that order has been filed, vide annexure E. The petitioner filed a revision from the order of Shri G. K. Bhalla. It was heard by the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab, who by his order dated 26th of March, 1964, rejected the revision, vide annexure F. The reason given was that the electricity had been held not to be "goods" within the meaning of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act by the Excise and Taxation Commissioner in the case of Kumar Textile Mills, Amritsar, referred to above. The contention of the petitioner is that under Section 7 of the Central Sales