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2009 (4) TMI 204

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..... n is answered in favour of the assessee and against the revenue. - 48 of 2005 - - - Dated:- 15-4-2009 - M.M. Kumar and H.S. Bhalla, JJ. [Judgment per : H.S. Bhalla, J.]. - Facts required to be noticed for the disposal of this reference are that vide order dated 13-2-2002, the Sales Tax Tribunal, Haryana (for brevity, the Tribunal ) had allowed the appeal of dealer M/s. Swiss French Laboratories in STA No.--- 2001-02 and had held that Sugar Globules, sold by the dealer-assessee are covered by entry No. 39 of Schedule 'B' to Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ). ETC Haryana moved an application under Section 42(1) of the Act, which was allowed by the Tribunal vide order dated 13-6-2005 and the following question of law was referred to this court for determination : Whether on a true and proper interpretation of entry 39 of Schedule 'B', the Tribunal was correct in law in holding that the sugar globules being manufactured and sold by this dealer fall under the said entry . 2. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and also gone through the record minutely with the assistance of the learned coun .....

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..... Advocate General appearing for the State of Punjab has vehemently argued that the goods in the present case are not termed as sugar in the common parlance and the true interpretation of entry 39 of Schedule B' should be same in the sense, which is understood in the common parlance. According to the learned State counsel, the State Government has exempted sugar, which is commonly presumed to be sugar in crystal form used in various household and for the manufacturing for sweet items. Learned counsel has further submitted that sugar globules being sold by the assessee are used in the Homeopathic medicine, which does not fulfil the criteria laid down by the State Government under Schedule 'B', which is meant only for sugar and finally, she has pleaded that sugar globules can not be termed as sugar. 6. On the other hand, learned counsel appearing for the assessee has pointed out that in a plethora of judgments, it has been held that sugar means an item which contains more than 90% of sugar. In order to lend support to this contention, he relied upon the judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court of India, reported as [1967] 19 STC-24, The State of Gujarat v. Sakarwala Br .....

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..... ason why it should have used that expression in item No. 47. It is significant that item No. 14 which relates to tea states as follows: Tea includes all varieties of the product known commercially as tea and also includes green tea. Item 16 which relates to soap provides that soap means all varieties of the product known commercially as soap. But in item No. 47 the Legislature has used the words any form of sugar and not any variety of sugar . We are accordingly of opinion that the word sugar in item No. 47 is intended to include within its ambit all forms of sugar, that is to say sugar of any shape or texture, colour or density and by whatever name it is called. The qualifying words are that it must contain more than 90 per cent of sucrose. We hold that the view taken by the High Court is correct and the argument of Mr. Bindra on behalf of the appellant must be overruled. 8. In Nangumal Ram Kishore's case (supra), it was held as under: From the various points of view expressed above, it would appear that the questions referred to us have usually been answered by the courts in favour of the view that misri and batasha should also be treated as sugar. In m .....

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..... as sugar and which are not produced by mixing sugar with some other ingredient such as starch (as in icing sugar) or with nuts (as in sweetmeats or confectionery) are sugar provided they contain more than 90 per cent of sucrose. The 90 per cent sucrose seems to be the standard of all the sugar defined in the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. So, this can be taken as a standard for defining sugar. The same type of definitions to be found in the Central Excise Act. We would accordingly answer the first question in the affirmative. As regard the second question, we hold that misri and batasha are sugar within the meaning of entry No. 9 of the Second Schedule and accordingly this question is answered in the affirmative. (emphasis added) 9. In Paro and Company's case (supra), their Lordships of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, have observed as under : Apart from all other considerations, prima facie, it is difficult to comprehend that sugar candy can be other than purified sugar itself, for it contains no other ingredient but sugar. If sugar tablets are to be included in the expression sugar and we do not see any reason why they should not be included ther .....

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