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1994 (2) TMI 59 - SUPREME COURTWhether sales of turmeric powder and pepper powder obtained from whole turmeric and whole pepper are exigible to sales tax under West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954? Held that:- So far as whole black and white pepper and pepper powder is concerned, they are the same goods, whether applying the functional test or the test of common parlance/commercial parlance. The analogy of paddy and rice or of wheat and wheat powder is not apt. Nobody consumes paddy as it is. Similarly, no one eats whole wheat. They are consumed after milling them into rice or flour, as the case may be. But so far as the pepper is concerned, it is used equally in whole as well as powdered form. It is for this reason perhaps that the entry in Notification No. 885-F.T. dated May 1, 1955 speaks of "Black and white pepper—whole, broken, ground or powdered or of any other form or description whatsoever". It is equally significant that the Notification No.1915-F.T. dated May 10, 1963 refers to these commodities "as specified in Notification No. 885-F.T. dated 1st May, 1955". Black and white pepper "as specified in Notification No. 885" : means black and white pepper, whether whole, powdered, broken or in any other form. So far as turmeric and turmeric powder is concerned, the position is not identical, applying the functional test. But inasmuch as turmeric is also described in Notification No. 885 in the same manner as black and white pepper and also because Notification No. 1915 refers to it with reference to the said earlier Notification, we are inclined to say that turmeric and turmeric powder must also be treated as same goods. Appeal allowed.
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