B. G. Somanna & Sons etc. v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors. (Supreme Court of India, civil appeals by certificate; judgment by Beg, J.; reported decision date July 21, 1972, appeals dismissed 1-5-1972). Item 6 of Schedule III of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act (6 of 1957) levies tax on groundnuts — declared goods of special importance under Section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 — when purchased by a miller other than a decorticating miller at the point of such purchase, and in all other cases at the point of purchase by the last dealer buying in the State. HELD, dismissing the appeals: the provision does not contravene Section 15(a) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. The appellants were taxed only as purchasing millers; the liability to pay the tax falls at one point only, and the purchasing miller, who buys presumably to convert the groundnuts into other products, stands on an equal footing with a last dealer; no possibility of double taxation or of taxation of the same product at more than one point of purchase was shown. The Court applied Sri Venkataswara Rice, Ginning & Groundnut Oil Mill Contractors Co. v. State of A.P., AIR 1972 SC 51. The position of a miller purchasing groundnuts partly for milling and partly for sale was left open. The rate-of-tax question was not before the Court, the High Court having already granted relief on that aspect. Respondents entitled to costs.
