TMI Blog1964 (8) TMI 58X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Division, Range I. His contention before the first appellate authority was that glass sheets were not subject to sales tax at the rate of 7 per cent. of the glass-ware. The first appellate authority rejected this contention and dismissed the appeal on 30th April, 1960. Against this order the assessee preferred a second appeal which was disposed of by the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax (Appeals) Eastern Division, Ranges I and II. That authority also did not accept the contention of the petitioner. It is only the decision of the second appellate authority which is included in the paper book before us. In rejecting the contention of the assessee the appellate authority referred to a decision of the Nagpur High Court which is reported in Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh, Nagpur v. Mohanlal Ramkishan Nathani[1955] 6 S.T.C. 136. It will be necessary to refer to that decision in considering the contentions raised before us. In view of that decision of the Nagpur High Court, the second appellate authority felt itself bound by the decision and rejected the appeal of the assessee. The assessee then preferred a revision before the Sales Tax Tribunal, Bombay. The Tribunal also ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and glass sheets are excluded from this entry, then there is no other Schedule in which plate glass or sheet glass is included, and therefore the rate of tax will be the residuary rate at 3 naya paise in a rupee, provided for in section 5(1)(c) of the Act. Entry No. 15 in Part I of the First Schedule is as follows: "Glass-ware, domestic pottery and china, excepting bottles and lamp and lantern chimneys." The C.P. and Berar Sales Act when it was originally passed contained entry in respect of this class of goods in the following form: "Glass-ware, domestic pottery and china." The entry was altered to its present form by addition of the words "excepting bottles and lamp and lantern chimneys" by amendment to the Schedule by C.P. and Berar Act No. 16 of 1949. Since then it continues in the present form. According to the assessee, in order to understand the meaning or the intention of the Legislature as to what is included in the term "glass-ware" in this entry, and whether it includes plate glass or sheet glass, it was necessary to find out the sense in which the word was understood by the trade or by the people dealing with this article. For this purpose, the learned counsel wanted ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to this aspect in order to answer the question that has been referred to us. If there was material or evidence before the Tribunal from which such an inference could be drawn as to the sense in which the term is understood by the people who deal with the articles, the assessee would have been in a better position to canvass support for his proposition that in determining the meaning to be given to an expression in a taxing statute, the meaning in which such a term is understood by the people who dealt with it and the article being dealt with by the trade and trades people are relevant factors to be taken into consideration. But no such material was placed before the assessing authority at any stage of the proceeding and we do not think it is possible to enter into this enquiry at this stage. We must therefore hold that the answer to the question will have to be found only on the basis of construction of the provision which was the sole basis for the contention raised before the authorities. The learned counsel relied on the observations of the Supreme Court in its two decisions, Ramavatar Budhaiprasad v. Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Akola[1961] 12 S.T.C. 286., and Ram-Bux Chaturb ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le I, Part I, which speaks of all articles and wares made of gold and silver or of specie, excepting ornaments, or again entry No. 7 in the same part of Schedule 1, which speaks of electroplated articles and wares and articles plated with gold and silver. By reference to these various entries it is contended that where there was an intention to include not only wares of a particular basic material but also articles made of that material, there is a specific reference to wares as well as articles. According to the learned counsel the term "glass-ware" is analogous to pottery-ware, table-ware, suggesting articles of the type of containers and for table, i.e., at the time of eating. In further support of this contention the learned counsel relied on the definition of the word "ware" in the dictionary which means a utensil or a container (Shorter Oxford Dictionary which gives a special meaning of "ware" to be "vessels etc. made of baked clay," chiefly with defining word, such as "brown-ware", "china-ware", "delf-ware", "glass-ware"). But the same Dictionary has also given other known meanings attributed to the word "ware" such as "articles of merchandise or manufacture; the things whic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... case was whether the words "any individual" in section 16 (3) of the Indian Income-tax Act would include females and children. It was held that the words would include only the male of the species and not females and children. In all these cases the principle of construction that is followed is to understand the context in which the word is used and to see whether restricting it to a particular class would lead to a harmonious construction. Another mode of approach pressed before us by the learned counsel was the association of words in the entry and the colour which the word "glass-ware" takes from association of similar words in that entry. In other words the learned counsel relied on the principle of construction in the legal maxim noscitur a sociis. Maxwell in Interpretation of Statutes at page 325 had explained this maxim of construction as follows: "When two or more words which are susceptible of analogous meaning are coupled together noscitur a sociis. They are understood to be used in their cognate sense. They take, as it were, their colour from each other, that is, the more general is restricted to a sense analogous to the less general." In support of this propositi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... normally conceive of lamps and lantern chimneys made of china or pottery, though that is not an impossibility. But those articles are generally of glass and are well-understood by the term "glass-ware". The only glass-wares or articles of glass that are excluded are bottles, lamps and lantern chimneys, and not anything else. We must therefore hold that in view of this interpretation of the word "glass-ware" in entry No. 15 there is no scope for the applition of the maxim noscitur a sociis. The learned counsel for the State has relied on three decisions, two of the Nagpur High Court and one of this Court. Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Mohanlal Ramkisan Nathani[1955] 6 S.T.C. 136. was a single Bench decision of the Nagpur High Court. In that case this entry in its original form came for examination and it was held that the term "glass-ware", whether it is interpreted in a narrow sense or otherwise, would include glass sheets. The other decision in the same volume at page 141 (Haji Jamaluddin v. The State [1955] 6 S.T.C. 141.) was in respect of glass bangles and it was held that they were included in the term "glass-ware" in entry No. 15. In so holding the Division Bench observed as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... limitation possible which can be suggested, then the ordinary dictionary meaning must prevail which is any article made of glass." When this decision was pointed out, the learned counsel for the assessee distinguished the same on the ground that there are other limitations in the statute now under examination and particularly in the Schedule, which show that other articles of glass are separately provided for. For this purpose, our attention was invited to entry No. 13 which speaks of cameras, cine-cameras, projectors, enlargers, lenses and other parts and accessories to cameras, projectors and enlargers, films, film-packs and photographic plates, and to entry No. 25 which speaks of binoculars, telescopes and opera-glasses. The argument is that camera lenses, telescopes, binoculars and opera-glasses which are articles of glass have been separately provided for and therefore the word "glass-ware" used in entry No. 15 is not all pervading or all comprehensive. The short answer to this contention is that the use of the expression "lenses" is intimately connected with lenses of cameras. Similarly, entry No. 25 speaks of binoculars, telescopes and opera-glasses. Now, opera-glass is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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