9911796707
TMI Blog1979 (10) TMI 193X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d do not present any difficulty in answering them. They are the usual type of questions that arise under the sales tax legislation, namely, whether a particular commodity sold or purchased by the assessee falls within one entry or another. The assessee always contends that it falls within an entry which attracts lesser rate of tax while the revenue invariably seeks to bring it within the entry attracting a larger rate of tax. Two questions arise here for consideration. One question is whether certain ornaments and other articles of gold purchased by the assessee with a view to melting them and making new ornaments or other articles out of the melted gold fall within entry 56 in the First Schedule of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 ( ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re not covered by the expression "water supply and sanitary fittings" in entry 26A, taxed the assessee at the lesser rates as claimed by him. The revenue thereupon took the matter by way of revision to the High Court, but the High Court also took the same view and affirmed the judgment of the Tribunal. This decision of the High Court is assailed in the present appeal preferred by the revenue after obtaining special leave from this Court. We will first consider the question whether the ornaments and other articles of gold purchased by the assessee fall within the description of "bullion and specie" given in entry 56. There are two expressions in this entry which require consideration; one is "bullion" and the other is "specie". Now there is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to bars or ingots, or into any unwrought body, of any degree of fineness". It would, therefore, be seen that ornaments and other articles of gold cannot be regarded as "bullion" because, even if old and antiquated, they are not raw or unwrought gold or gold in the mass, but they represent manufactured or finished products of gold. Nor do they come within the meaning of the expression "specie". The word "specie" has a recognised meaning and according to Webster's New World Dictionary, it means "coin, as distinguished from paper money". The Law Dictionaries also give the same meaning. Wharton's Law Lexicon and Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law state the meaning of "specie" as "metallic money" and in Black's Law Dictionary, it is described as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n State of Uttar Pradesh v. Indian Hume Pipe Co. Ltd. [1977] 39 S.T.C. 355 (S.C.)., where it has been laid down that "sanitary fittings", according to the popular sense of the term, mean such pipes or materials as are used in lavatories, urinals or bath-rooms of private houses or public buildings. The G.I. pipes sold by the assessee would, therefore, fall within the description of "sanitary fittings" only if it can be shown and the burden of so doing would be on the revenue, that they were meant for use in lavatories, urinals or bath-rooms. It does not appear that the attention of the assessee and the tax authorities was drawn to this aspect of the question and hence no material was brought on record which would throw light on the question ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ........fittings" do not occur in isolation, but they are used in juxtaposition of the words "sanitary fittings". The entire expression "water supply and sanitary fittings" is one single expression and the words "water supply........fittings" must receive colour from the immediately following words "sanitary fittings". We are, therefore, of the view that the expression "water supply......fittings" in the context in which it occurs means such pipes or materials as are meant for use for supply of water to or in lavatories, urinals or bath-rooms of private houses or public buildings and they do not include heavy pipes which are laid underground as mains for carrying water supply from one area or place to another. Therefore, even for the purpos ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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