1978 (9) TMI 72 - SUPREME COURT

Whether 'dryer felts' manufactured by the assessee fall within the category of "all varieties of cotton, woollen or silken textiles" specified in Item 30 of Schedule `B' of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948?

Held that:- A textile may have diverse uses and it is not the use which determines its character as textile. It is, therefore, no argument against the assessee that `dryer felts' are used only as absorbents of moisture in the process of manufacture in a paper manufacturing unit. That cannot militate against `dryer felts' falling within the category of `textiles', if otherwise they satisfy the description of `textiles'.

If we look at the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, we find in Chapter 59 occurring in Section XI of the First Schedule that there is a reference to `textile fabrics' and textile articles, of a kind commonly used in `machinery or plant' and clause(4) of that Chapter provides that this expression shall be taken to apply inter alia to "woven textile felts...... of a kind commonly used in paper making or other machinery.......". This reference in a statute which is intended to apply to imports made by the trading community clearly shows that `dryer felts' which are "woven textile felts......of a kind commonly used in paper making machinery" are regarded in common parlance, according to the sense of ordinary traders and merchants, textile fabrics. We have, therefore, no doubt that `dryer felts', are `textiles' within the meaning of that expression in Item 30 of Schedule `B'. Appeal allowed in favour of assessee.