TMI Blog1967 (2) TMI 65X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ax under section 18(6) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, as he did not have any registration certificate in respect of this period. The Additional Sales Tax Officer, Ujjain, and the Additional Appellate Assistant Com- missioner, Indore, both held that charcoal in which the appellant was dealing was not covered by entry 1 of Part III of Schedule II to the Act, but that it fell under the residuary entry 1 of Part VI of that Schedule, and consequently was liable to be assessed at the rate of 4 per cent. of the price of charcoal. In a further appeal before the Board of Revenue, the Board, relying on the dictionary meaning of the word "coal" as given in Blackies' Concise Dictionary, held that charcoal would be included in the term "coal" and, therefore, entry 1 in Part III of Schedule II would apply and the tax chargeable would be at 2 per cent. only. At the instance of the Commissioner of Sales Tax, the Board referred the following question to the High Court: "Whether charcoal is covered under entry 1 of Part III of Schedule II to the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958, and is taxable at the rate of 2 per cent. or will be taxable at the rate of 4 per cent. under entry ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rging wood in a kiln, retort, etc., from which air is excluded." According to these dictionaries "coal" would appear to include "charcoal ". The contention of the respondent was that charcoal is one of the species of coal, and, therefore, would be covered by entry 1 of Part III, and, therefore, the answer given by the High Court is correct. Counsel for the State, however, raised three contentions: (1) that coal and charcoal are different products, one being a mineral product, and the other prepared from wood and other articles by human agency, and, therefore, the term "coal" would not cover char- coal; (2) that while construing such entries, the dictionary meaning should not be preferred to the popular meaning or the meaning in the commercial sense; and (3) that the legislative policy in reference to the term "coal " shows that it is not used by the Legislature in India so as to include charcoal. Now, there can be no dispute that while coal is technically understood as a mineral product, charcoal is manufactured by human agency from products like wood and other things. But it is now well- settled that while interpreting items in statutes like the Sales Tax Acts, resort ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to raise revenue, and for this purpose, to class substance according to the general usage and known denominations of trade. In my view, therefore, it is not the botanist's conception as to what constitutes a 'fruit' or 'vegetable' which must govern the interpretation to be placed on the words, but rather what would ordinarily in matters of commerce in Canada be included therein. Botanically, oranges and lemons are berries, but otherwise no one would consider them as such." This rule was stated as early as 1831 by Lord Tenterden in Attorney-General v. Winstanley [1831] 2 D. Cl. 302., Similarly, in Grenfell v. Inland Revenue Commissioners [1876] 1 Ex. D. 242, 248., Pollock, B., observed, "that if a statute contains language which is capable of being construed in a popular sense such statute is not to be construed according to the strict or technical meaning of the language contained in it, but is to be construed in its popular sense, meaning of course, by the words 'popular sense', that sense which people conversant with the subject-matter with which the statute is dealing would attribute to it." But "if a word in its popular sense and read in an ordinary way is capable of two con ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, declares certain goods as goods of special importance in inter-State trade or commerce. One of these is "coal including coke in all its forms". Section 15 of that Act provides that the State Legislatures in their respective sales tax laws can impose only 2 per cent. tax on these goods. That is why in entry 1 of Part III "coal" is stated to include "coke in all its forms", and coal including coke in all its forms is charged at 2 per cent. tax. The State Legislature, however, knew or must be presumed to know that firewood is also used by the people as fuel, but would not fall within that entry, and, therefore, provided 2 per cent. tax on it by a separate entry, namely, entry 8 in Part III. Having taxed coal and firewood at 2 per cent., it does not appear to be possible that the Legislature deliberately left out charcoal from the connotation of the word "coal" and left it to be charged at 4 per cent. under the residuary entry 1 in Part VI. The object of the Legislature clearly was to tax coal and firewood as articles used as fuel and did not make a separate entry in regard to charcoal as it must be aware that coal as understood in ordinary and commer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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