The State of Tamil Nadu vs Sri Venkatesa Mills Ltd.

Ramanujam, J.—In these tax revision cases filed by the State, question that comes up for consideration is, whether the textile committee

cess collected by the assessee at the time of sale forms part of the sales turnover liable to tax under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959.

It is not in dispute that the assessee in these cases at the time of collecting the sale price has also been collecting a cess called textile committee

cess, as per the provisions of section 5A(1) of the Textile Committee Act. Section 5A(1) of the Textiles Committee Act under which the assessee

has collected the cess runs as follows :

5A. (1) There shall be levied and collected as a cess for the purposes of this Act, a duty of excise on all textiles and on all textile machinery

manufactured in India at such rate, not exceeding one per cent. ad valorem as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette,

fix :

Provided that no such cess shall be levied on textile manufactured from out of handloom or powerloom industry.

According to the revenue, all the amounts collected by the seller at the time of sale including the textile committee cess will form part of the sales

turnover and therefore the totality of the sum collected should be brought to charge under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act. On the other

hand, the assessee contended that the textile committee cess collected has nothing to do with the sales tax, though as a fact the textile committee

cess is collected at the point of sale. In spite of the fact that the levy of sales tax and the collected of textile committee cess are at the same point,

i.e., at the point of sale, the two imposts are distinct. The textile committee cess collected by the assessee at the time of sale can neither be treated

as sales tax collected nor can it be treated as part of sale price and it is only in cases where the cess is treated as sales tax or sale price. It can form

part of the sales turnover. As already stated, the textile committee cess is a separate impost made under the Textile Committee Act and it can

never form part of sales turnover. This Court in more or less similar circumstances held in E.I.D. Parry (India) Ltd. v. State of Tamil Nadu [1979]

44 STC 352 that the gallonage fee collected by a seller from the buyer at the time of sale does not form part of the sales turnover and so far as the

gallonage fee is concerned, the levy is made on the purchaser of spirits and the seller who collects such gallonage fee from the purchaser has an

accredited instrumentality for the recovery of the said gallonage fee and therefore the same cannot be taken to form part of the sales turnover. It

was also held in that case that since the collected of gallonage fee from the purchasers and remitting the same into the treasury by the distilleries is a

statutory obligation, the said fee collected cannot form part of the sales turnover and as such it cannot be brought to charge under the Tamil Nadu

General Sales Tax Act. The analogy of gallonage fee not forming part of the sales turnover, as has been held in the above case, applies to the

textile committee cess collected by the assessee, in pursuance of the statutory obligation laid under the provisions of the Textiles Committee Act.

Thus, the view taken by the Tribunal appears to be correct and no interference is called for by this Court. The tax revision cases are therefore

dismissed.

Petitioner dismissed.