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TMI Blog2004 (5) TMI 304X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... icipal Corporation, Katni v. Associated Cement Co. Ltd.). 2. Civil Appeal No. 7188 of 1997 has been preferred against the judgment and order dated April 21, 1997, of a division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court deciding the issue relating to levy of export tax on certain products manufactured by M/s. Associated Cement Co. Ltd. 3. By a resolution published in M.P. Gazette dated October 25, 1991, the Municipal Corporation, Katni, levied tax on export of goods from within the area of the Municipal Corporation. Entries Nos. 1 and 2 in the Schedule appended to the notification read as under: SCHEDULE S. No. Name of article Tax proposed (1) (2) (3) 1. All types of cement ½ per cent of the cost of the consignment; ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by way of retail sale whereas cement is sold through warehouses and cement stockists network. It has been submitted that the products manufactured by the appellant can by no stretch of imagination be equated with or used for the purposes for which cement is used. The refractory materials are used in furnaces and kilns to withstand high temperature, corrosion and abrasion and they are not usable as a substitute of cement or for construction activities. Learned counsel has further submitted that cement cannot be used for the purpose for which refractory material is used and the process of manufacturing cement and refractories are entirely different and the plant manufacturing refractories can neither be used nor can be converted for manufact ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for which the article is used on account of its special qualities and components, etc., as long as it is cement it will be covered by the entry. According to Shri Choudhary the fact that refractories are used in furnaces and are capable of withstanding very high temperature, corrosion and abrasion will make no difference as it is still a cement and therefore it is covered by the entry. Learned counsel has also submitted that being a taxing statute it has to be strictly construed and one has to look merely at what is clearly said and since the entry is all embracing which covers "all types of cement" it will take within its compass refractory as well as cement. 7.. Learned counsel for the appellant has referred to some dictionaries and tech ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as aluminium oxide and silicon carbide, are also very hard and are used as abrasives; some applications, for example, aircraft brake lining, use both characteristics. Refractory materials are commonly grouped into (1) those containing mainly aluminosilicates; (2) those made predominately of silica; (3) those made of magnesite, dolomite, or chrome ore, termed basic refractories (because of their chemical behaviour); and (4) a miscellaneous category usually referred to as special refractories. 8. The appellant has also placed on record certain technical data regarding the refractories manufactured by it which are used in iron and steel industry and in fertiliser industry. This technical data shows that different varieties of re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pment. They can withstand temperatures above one thousand degree centigrade when other metals will melt or oxidise and they are generally used for lining of furnaces, etc. 11.. The principle to be applied for interpretation of taxing statutes which is relevant for the decision of the present case has been settled by a catena of decisions of this Court. In Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Jaswant Singh Charan Singh [1967] 19 STC 469; AIR 1967 SC 1454, it was held that while interpreting items in statutes like Sales Tax Acts, resort should be had not to scientific or the technical meaning of such terms but to their popular meaning or the meaning attached to them by those dealing in them, that is to say, to their commercial sense. The same view w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... articular meaning, though it may differ from the common or ordinary meaning of the words.' 12.. We would only add that there should be material to enter appropriate finding in the case. The material may be either oral or documentary evidence." The word "cement" has not been defined in the relevant notification. Therefore, it has to be understood in the same way as is understood in common parlance. Cement is exclusively used as a building material and is a commodity of everyday use. Therefore, we have to go only by the popular or commercial meaning of the term. The main property of the refractory is that it can withstand very high temperature, corrosion and abrasion. Cement is used for building roads, bridges, and dams, etc., and also by c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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