*VELLANKI FRAME WORKS VERSUS THE COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER, VISAKHAPATNAM*
*Forum-Supreme Court of India*
*Date-13th January,2021*
*Sub: What is high seas Sale under the Central Sales -tax Act as well as Customs Act and who is an importer- Landmark decision *


The Apex court in the above matter was dealing with a situation where the appellant had sold goods on High seas basis and after having sold the goods , cleared the goods by filing the Bill of entry in its name and thereafter raised a Debit note on the party to whom goods were said to have been sold on high seas basis and on these facts it was claimed that the said transaction was a transaction of high seas sale and was not liable for sales-tax whereas the Commercial Tax officer denied to consider the transaction as that of high seas sale and considered the same as Inter-state sale liable for Sales-tax though Form C benefit was allowed subject to filing Form C. The appellant in this case directly approached the writ court against the Show Cause notice and the high court held against the assessee. The Apex Court in detail considered the definition of Importer as well as the nature of transaction and finally examined the issue in the context of Article 286 of the Constitution of India , relevant provisions of the CST Act and Customs Act by observing that sale in the course of import’ carries three essential features – (i) that there must be a sale; (ii) that goods must actually be imported into the territory of India; and (iii) that the sale must be part and parcel of the import. Further the inclusive definition of “importer” in Section 2(26) of the Customs Act cannot be used to usurp the identity of an importer from the person who filed the bill of entry; and the person in whose name the bill of entry is filed, does not cease to be an importer. On these facts the appeal was dismissed. *The Supreme Court did not allow the plea to the appellant to be relegated to the appeal forum after having approached the writ court by saying that the extraordinary writ jurisdiction cannot be utilised by a litigant only to take chance and then to seek recourse to the other remedy after failing in its attempt on the basic merits of the case before the High Court. A litigation cannot be allowed to be unendingly kept alive at the choice of a litigant.*

*This is undoubtedly a landmark judgement which will be helpful in interpretation under the Customs Act and the GST Laws*

Ramesh Patodia
14-01-2021 v