TMI Blog1997 (7) TMI 567X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . Harish Kumar, Advocates, for the respondent. -------------------------------------------------- The judgment of the Court was delivered by S.P. BHARUCHA, J.- These appeals, filed by the assessees, challenge the correctness of the judgment and order of a Division Bench of the High Court at Madras. The question raised in these appeals is whether ultramarine blue is a pigment, so that it falls under item 110 of the First Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, as contended by the sales tax authorities, or a chemical, so that it falls under item 138 thereof, as contended by the assessees. The High Court referred to decisions of other High Courts and came to the conclusion that the stand of the sales tax authorities was justified. Item 110 reads thus: Sl.No. Description of the goods Point of levy Rate of tax (per cent) 110 Paints, colours, dry distempers, varnishes and blacks, cellulose lacquers, polish including metal polishing bars (but not boot polish), pigments, indigo, enamels, cement based water Paints, oil-bound distemper, water pigments, finishes for leather, plastic emulsion paints, turpe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that ultramarine blue was not a dye. N. Ganu Bhai s case [1975] 36 STC 421 (MP) considers whether ultramarine blue, or neel , is a dye. In so doing it finds that ultramarine blue or neel is a pigment. The case, far from supporting the assessees, is against them. 3.. In Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer, Jodhpur v. Rajasthan Chemical Corporation [1987] 65 STC 356 (Raj), the question was whether ultramarine blue or neel was included in the term pigment . The Board of Revenue for Rajasthan, from whose order a reference was made to the High Court, had posed the question whether ultramarine blue or neel in common parlance was covered by the expression pigment . The Board had not gone into the question but had relied upon on an earlier decision where the Board had held that ultramarine blue could not be considered to be a pigment. (No details of the material that was before the Board on the earlier occasion are set out in the High Court s judgment). The High Court said that the word pigment in the relevant entry had been used along with dyes, paints, varnishes and dry colours. The dictionary meaning of the word pigment was any substance used for colouring: that whic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... only as ultramarine blue not only to the manufacturers and traders but even to the common people. In the absence of any evidence on the point, the High Court said, it would be hazardous to interpret the term pigment in the entry as suggested by the excise authorities. 6.. It seems to us that the focus in the case before the Gujarat High Court was misdirected. That the assessee s product was ultramarine blue was not in dispute. What was in dispute was whether ultramarine blue was known as a pigment or whether it was considered to fall under some other broad or generic description. 7.. The Madras High Court in the judgment under appeal referred in extenso to the judgment of a learned single Judge of the Calcutta High Court in Nilsin Company v. Collector of Central Excise [1984] ECR 928. The issue before the Calcutta High Court was whether ultramarine blue was a pigment for the purposes of assessment under item 14(1)(5) of the Excise Tariff. The learned Judge said: (13). The respondents in paragraph 17 of the affidavit-in-opposition have averred that in paints like emulsion paints or water paints, pigment finishes for leather, printing ink, textile printing, ultramarine blue i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... clothing, etc., by offsetting yellowish undertones; gives a blue rather than a yellow , white . According to the same dictionary, the expression colorant means any substance that imparts colour to another material or mixture . Colorants are either dyes or pigments (vide page 267 of the book). I may now also refer to the definition of pigment given at page 817 of the said Condensed Chemical Dictionary: Any substance, usually in the form of a dry powder, that imparts colour to another substance or mixture. Most pigments are insoluble in inorganic solvents and water....... To qualify as a pigment, a material must have positive colorant value. The definition given in the said book excludes certain substances including whiting. Mr. Bhattacharyya is not correct in contending that ultramarine blue is whiting because according to the said dictionary, whiting is entirely a distinct product consisting of finely ground, naturally occurring calcium carbonate derived from chalk, limestone, etc., and used as filler, putty, etc. One of the properties of ultramarine blue is that it is a whitener, i.e., a white pigment or colorant used in the paper and textile industries (vide Co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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