TMI Blog1978 (12) TMI 166X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Against the aforesaid order of assessment, the applicant went in appeal before the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax, but with no avail. The applicant, therefore, carried the matter in further appeal before the Gujarat Sales Tax Tribunal. On behalf of the applicant, the whole process of hand screen printing was explained orally at the time of hearing of the appeal as well at the time when the Tribunal went for inspection in one of the city mills for the purposes of understanding the process in question. It was pointed out to the Tribunal that the wooden tables supplied by the applicant were of 42 metres in length and 60 inches in width (that is, about 146 ft. x 5 ft). These tables were covered with buff-leather after they were fixed on the site so that there would be an even printing on the cloth. The tables are brought in loose condition and assembled on the site by the suppliers. In the present case, the buff-leather was fixed on the tables by the applicant under a separate labour contract. The steam pipes are fitted below the tables so as to supply the necessary heat for the purposes of drying the prints instantaneously. The Tribunal also found that there was a machine for mix ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that screen print block tables sold by the applicant are not covered by entry 15 of Schedule C to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959?" In our opinion, this reference at the instance of the assessee should be accepted obviously for the following reasons: Entry 15 of Schedule C to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, so far as relevant for our purposes, reads as under: "15. (1) Machinery used in the manufacture of goods, and spare parts and accessories thereof, but not machinery and spare parts and accessories thereof specified in any other entry in this or any other schedule." The word "machinery" is not defined in the Act and, therefore, we have to consider what is the dictionary meaning of the term "machinery". In Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary, Unabridged, Second Edition, the meanings of the terms "machine" and "machinery" are to be found at page 1080. The relevant meaning of the term "machine" is to be found at item No. 3 in the said meaning, which reads as under: "3. a structure consisting of a framework and various fixed and moving parts, for doing some kind of work; me ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ch structure, complete in itself, has moving parts in relation with others when they move interdependently by application of forcemechanical or manual-with an avowed object to produce a given product. In other words, in order to be a machinery, the following four factors must exist, namely: (1) a complete and integrated collection of several objects or articles; (2) these objects or articles should interact in unison upon or with each other; (3) this interaction is prompted by application of force which may be manual or motive power; and (4) the movement should be with a view to do some specific activity or to obtain specific or definite result. In this connection, our attention has been invited on behalf of the applicant to the decision of the Privy Council in Corporation of Calcutta v. Chairman of the Cossipore and Chitpore MunicipalityA.I.R. 1922 P.C. 27., where a question arose whether a raised reservoir for storing water by erecting a solid steel tank with supporting structure is machinery within the meaning of the third proviso to section 101 of the Bengal Municipal Act, 1884. The steel tank with supporting structure was put up by the Corporation of Calcutta on a plot of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... one of these conditions exists in the present case... The word 'machinery' must mean something more than a collection of ordinary tools. It must mean something more than a solid structure built upon the ground, whose parts either do not move at all or, if they do move, do not move the one with or upon the other in interdependent action with the object of producing a specific and definite result. Their Lordships concur with Lord Davey in thinking that there is great danger in attempting to give a definition of the word 'machinery' which will be applicable in all cases. It may be impossible to succeed in such an attempt. If their Lordships were obliged to run the hazard of the attempt, they would be inclined to say that the word 'machinery' when used in ordinary language, prima facie, means some mechanical contrivances which, by themselves or in combination with one or more other mechanical contrivances, by the combined movement and interdependent operation of their respective parts, generate power, or evoke, modify, apply or direct natural forces with the object in each case of effecting so definite and specific a result. The tank and its supporting structure do not satisfy this ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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