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TMI Blog1987 (9) TMI 379X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... General Sales Tax Act, 1973 ("Act" for short) and is also a licensee under the Haryana Control of Brick Supply Order, 1972 ("Order" for short). In respect of assessment of sales tax for the accounting period 1981-82, it claimed deduction of a sum of Rs. 1,49,600.92 out of the gross turnover on the ground that it had purchased sun-dried bricks from one Sardool Singh, a registered dealer, on payment of sales tax under the Act and that amount represented the sale price of such tax-paid bricks. The claim was rejected by the authorities under the Act. In the writ petition before the High Court the claim was rejected on the ground that raw bricks (i.e., unburnt bricks) did not come within the purview of the notification of 5th May, 1973, issued b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Packers [1980] 46 STC 63; [1980] 3 SCR 1271 and India Carbon Ltd. v. Superintendent of Taxes, Gauhati [1971] 28 STC 603; [1972] 1 SCR 316 in support of his submissions. According to Collins English Dictionary "brick" means "a rectangular block of clay mixed with sand and fired in a kiln or baked by the sun, used in building construction". New Webster's Dictionary carries the meaning of the word as: "a block of clay usually rectangular, hardened by the sun or by burning in a kiln and used for building, paving, etc. " According to the Oxford English Dictionary "brick" means "a substance formed of clay, kneaded, moulded, and hardened by baking with fire, or in warm countries and ancient times by drying in the sun". Encyclopaedia Britannica ind ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ning the bricks. If not burnt, the sun-dried bricks are not hard enough to take good load. Sun-dried bricks are thus an intermediate stage of bricks as understood in common parlance and are goods in the ordinary sense of the term being a commercial commodity. Section 18 of the Act authorises the State Government by notification to direct that in respect of named goods, tax under section 15 of the Act may be levied at the first stage of sale thereof and on the issue of such a notification, tax on such goods shall be levied accordingly. "Brick", under the notification, is taxed at the first point of sale. The dealer claimed deduction on the basis of the notification by maintaining that he had purchased the bricks from the manufacturer and at ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... int in regard to sale of bricks, by paying tax on the low consideration of sun-dried bricks, the dealer would escape liability of sales tax on the turnover of baked bricks. Undoubtedly this would be the position. We accordingly suggested to counsel for the State that this situation should be appropriately met and the interest of the State would be properly protected if the notification in question is changed and so far as brick is concerned, necessary modification is made. Where sun-burnt brick is purchased on payment of sales tax and the purchasing dealer (whose assessment is in issue) burns the same and sells the same for a higher price, sales tax should be leviable on the sale price of such bricks. The amount of sales tax paid when sun-d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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