TMI Blog1977 (2) TMI 114X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ently sold within the Tamil Nadu State M. S. rounds, M. S. angles, and M. S. squares of the weight of 260.331 metric tonnes. It claimed that in respect of sales of M. S. rounds, M. S. angles and M. S. squares of the said weight no tax was payable, since the M. S. rounds which it purchased in Tamil Nadu had already suffered tax and the goods were liable only to a single point taxation. The assessing authority as well as the appellate authority held that the assessee had not proved that the goods of the weight of 260.331 metric tonnes which it sold in Tamil Nadu State came out of 468.199 metric tonnes which it purchased in Tamil Nadu and which suffered tax and, consequently, negatived the claim of the assessee. However, when the assessee pref ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... item is a different commercial commodity from the other item which suffered tax already, there cannot be any exemption in respect of the former item. In other words, even on the finding of the Tribunal that the M.S. rounds, M.S. angles and M.S. squares sold in Tamil Nadu came out of the M.S. rounds purchased from Tamil Nadu earlier, still those items were commercially different from the items purchased by the assessee from Tamil Nadu, namely, M.S. rounds and that, therefore, they could not get the benefit of a single point taxation. We are of the opinion that the contention is partly correct. We have already referred to items (iv) and (v) of entry 4 of the Second Schedule to the Act. Each one of them refers to a main article and the other ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tate are concerned. They are commercially the same as the M.S. rounds that were purchased from the State out of which the M.S. rounds sold were made. Consequently, we are of the opinion that out of the three articles sold in the State of Tamil Nadu, namely, M.S. rounds, M.S. angles and M.S. squares, only M.S. rounds will be entitled to the benefit of exemption from tax on the ground that the M.S. rounds had suffered tax already, and that the M.S. angles and M.S. squares will not get the benefit of such exemption. Mr. Natarajan, the learned counsel for the respondent-assessee, contended that what is necessary for the purpose of the benefit of exemption is the statutory identity in the sense that the goods involved must find a place in the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... some processing or finishing or are merely joined together, they may remain commercially the goods which cannot be taxed again, in a series of sales, so long as they retain their identity as goods of a particular type." (Underlining is ours.) Thus it will be seen that the emphasis is on the retention of the identity as a particular commercial commodity and that once that identity is lost, there is no question of the commodity being exempt on the ground that the commercial commodity from which it was changed into a new commodity had already suffered tax. On the other hand, Mr. Natarajan drew our attention to another passage in the same judgment, as supporting the order of the Tribunal in the present case. That passage occurs at page 323. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... below'." We are of the opinion that the above observation of the Supreme Court does not in any way conflict with the other observation, which we have already extracted, and as a matter of fact there is nothing in this observation which goes contrary to the conclusion of the Supreme Court that the retention of the identity as a particular commercial commodity is indispensable for enjoying the benefit of single point taxation. The learned counsel for the respondent-assessee then drew our attention to another decision of the Supreme Court in State of Punjab v. Chandu Lal Kishori Lal; State of Punjab v. Krishna Cotton, Dal and Oil Factory[1970] 25 S.T.C. 52 (S.C.). In that case, the relevant entry was: "Cotton, that is to say, all kinds ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a single species of declared goods cannot be subject under section 15(a) of the Central Sales Tax Act to a tax exceeding two per cent of the sale or purchase price thereof or at more than one stage. But so far as cotton seeds are concerned, it is difficult to accept the contention that the sale of cotton seeds must be treated as a sale of declared goods for the purpose of section 15(a) or (b) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. It is true that cotton in its unginned state contains cotton seeds. But it is by a manufacturing process that the cotton and the seed are separated and it is not correct to say that the seed so separated is cotton itself or part of the cotton. They are two distinct commercial goods though before the manufacturing pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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