TMI Blog1989 (4) TMI 296X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1956, as the goods of special importance of inter-State trade or commerce. It was contended further that by a notification issued by the Government of Bihar dated the 28th October, 1981, all declared goods under section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, have been exempted from the levy of additional tax under section 6 of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981. 4.. It was contended further that the items atta, maida and sujji were essentially cereals and as such came within the ambit of section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, and were not exigible to the said additional tax. In support of such contention the petitioner relied on decisions of this Court as also of the Bombay High Court. The petitioner contended that it was not liable to pay any additional tax on the sale of atta, maida and sujji. 5.. By his order dated the 6th January, 1986, the respondent No. 3 rejected the contention raised by the petitioner in its objection and affirmed the demands of additional tax for the assessment years 1981-82 to 1984-85. He called upon the petitioner to deposit additional tax demanded by the 11th January, 1986. 6.. The petitioner filed this civil writ petition in this Court on the 9th Janu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... are nothing but wheat in broken forms and as such come under the category of wheat, as defined in section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act. It is contended further that under the Wheat Roller Flour Mills (Licensing and Control) Order, 1957, a roller mill has been defined to be a flour mill where the process of disintegration of wheat is carried out. 12.. It is contended further that the items atta, maida and sujji are nothing but wheat in disintegrated form and have all characteristics of a cereal, as has been certified in the letter dated the 27th March, 1987, issued by the Director of Trade Services, United States Wheat Associates. Similarly, a letter has been issued by an expert, namely, Dr. N.K. Gupta to the same effect. These affidavits affirmed by the persons engaged in the purchase and sale of the products in the market have been annexed and relied upon where it is stated, inter alia, that the atta, maida and sujji are nothing but wheat in a different form and are sold in the market as such. 13. Shambhu Sharan, at present Secretary to the Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Patna, has affirmed a supplementary counter-affidavit on the 22nd November, 1988. It is stat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is to say,- (i) pig iron and cast iron including ingot moulds, bottom plates, iron scrap, cast iron scrap, runner scrap and iron skull scrap; (ii) steel semis (ingots, slabs, blooms and billets of all qualities, shapes and sizes); (iii) skelp bars, tin bars, sheet bars, hoe-bars and sleeper bars (iv) steel bars (rounds, rods, squares, flats, octagons and hexagons, plain and ribbed or twisted, in coil form as well as straight lengths); (v) steel structurals (angles, joints, channels, tees, sheet piling sections, Z sections or any other rolled sections); (vi) sheets, hoops, strips and skelp, both black and galvanised, hot and cold rolled, plain and corrugated, in all qualities, in straight lengths and in coil form, as rolled and in rivetted condition; (vii) plates both plain and chequered in all qualities; (viii) discs, rings, forgings and steel casting; (ix) tool, alloy and special steels of any of the above categories; (x) steel melting scrap in all forms including steel skull, turnings and borings; (xi) steel tubes, both welded and seamless, of all diameters and lengths, including tube fittings; (xii) tin-plates, both hot dipped and electrolytic and tinf ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... scrutiny which may be appropriate to an examination of the by-laws of a body exercising only delegated powers, nor is the generality of its power to legislate on a particular subject to be cut down by the arbitrary introduction of far-fetched and impertinent limitations........" (b) Megh Raj v. Allah Rakhia reported in AIR 1947 PC 72. This decision of the Privy Council was also cited on behalf of the petitioner. In this case the Privy Council considered and construed item 21 in the Provincial List II, Schedule 7 of the Government of India Act, 1935 which contained the expression "that is to say". The following observations from the opinion of Sir John Beaumont was relied on: "........to item 21, 'land', the governing word is followed by the rest of the item, which goes on to say, 'that is to say'. These words introduce the most general concept-'rights in or over land'. 'Rights in land' must include general rights like full ownership or leasehold or all such rights. 'Rights over land' would include easements or other collateral rights, whatever form they might take. Then follow words which are not words of limitation but of explanation or illustration, giving instances which ma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for all statutes, whether fiscal or otherwise. 'The underlying principle is that the meaning and intention of a statute must be collected from the plain and unambiguous expression used therein rather than from any notions which may be entertained by the court as to what is just or expedient.' The expressed intention must guide the court." (f) Tilok Chand Prasan Kumar v. Sales Tax Officer, Hathras reported in [1970] 25 STC 118. This decision was cited on behalf of the petitioner. In this case a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court considered and construed section 3-D of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, under which a tax was imposed on the turnover of first purchases in respect of foodgrains, including cereals and pulses at a particular rate by a notification dated the 1st October, 1964. A question arose whether "arhar ki dal", purchased by the dal mills, thereafter cleaned by removing the husk and breaking into smaller particles of different sizes, which were sold under different names could come within the ambit of the said notification and whether a person purchasing such broken down products from the dal mills would be held to have made a first purchase again exigible to pur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o say' must vary with the context........... " "............ But, in the context of single point sales tax, subject to special conditions when imposed on separate categories of specified goods, the expression was apparently meant to exhaustively enumerate the kinds of goods on a given list. The purpose of an enumeration in a statute dealing with sales tax at a single point in a series of sales would, very naturally, be to indicate the types of goods each of which would constitute a separate class for a series of sales. Otherwise, the listing itself loses all meaning and would be without any purpose behind it." "As we all know, sales tax law is intended to tax sales of different commercial commodities and not to tax the production or manufacture of particular substances out of which these commodities may have been made. As soon as separate commercial commodities emerge or come into existence, they become separately taxable goods or entities for purposes of sales tax. Where commercial goods, without change of their identity as such goods, are merely subjected to some processing or finishing or are merely joined together, they may remain commercially the goods which cannot be taxe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a rebate of two paise in the rupee shall be allowed on the rice sold and consumed in the State in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed. (b) Rice obtained At the point of sale 1 paisa in the from paddy that by the first wholerupee." has met tax sale dealer in the under this Act. State effecting the sale. The question before the Supreme Court was whether the preparations of parched rice and puffed rice, both of which were made out of rice by heating or parching, constituted a product different from rice and was subjected to further tax on their sale. It was not in dispute that the paddy out of which the said products were made had already been subjected to tax. It was noted by the Supreme Court that under section 5(1) of the statute though a dealer had paid a tax of five paise per rupee on paddy as item 8 in the Second Schedule he will have to pay again a tax at the rate of 4 paise on every rupee for sale of these two items. The Supreme Court held that both the products of rice come within the meaning of entry 66(b) of the First Schedule of the statute. The Supreme Court observed as follows: "........ We do not think that it is fair to so interpret a taxing statut ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onstitutes declared goods and it will not be open to the State Government to levy sales tax in excess of four per cent as provided under section 15(a) of the Central Act........" (k) Shri Kishan Satyanarain v. State of Madhya Pradesh reported in [1983] 54 STC 25. This decision was cited on behalf of the petitioner. In this case a Division Bench of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh held, inter alia, that the word "rice" as used in section 14(i) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, should be understood to include "puffed rice" and "beaten rice" and treated as declared goods under the said statute. The Division Bench followed and applied the decision of the Supreme Court in Alladi Venhateswarlu [1978] 41 STC 394. 18.. On a careful consideration of the respective submissions of the parties and the decisions cited at the Bar, which have been noted earlier, it appears to me that the point at issue in Pyare Lal Malhotra [1976] 37 STC 319 (SC) was different from the issue which has to be decided in the instant case. In Pyare Lal Malhotra [1976] 37 STC 319 the Supreme Court considered and construed entry No. (iv) in section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, which dealt with "iron a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... thout any addition of ingredients or appreciable changes in chemical composition and that the term "rice" is wide enough to include rice in its various forms whether edible or inedible. The same view was taken earlier by a Division Bench of the Assam High Court in the case of Kapildeoram Baijnath Prosad [1954] 5 STC 365 and by the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court in Tilok Chand Prasan Kumar [1970] 25 STC 118. In the latter case it was held that the products obtained by cleaning the grain of arhar dal and breaking it into smaller particles of different sizes which were sold in different names, would not be commodities essentially different from the original commodity. 22.. In Shri Kishan Satyanarain [1983] 54 STC 25 a Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court followed and applied the decision of the Supreme Court in Alladi Venkateswarlu [1978] 41 STC 394 and held that puffed rice and beaten rice will be treated as declared goods under section 14(i) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. 23.. Following the decisions of the Supreme Court in Alladi Venkateswarlu [1978] 41 STC 394 and said other High Courts I hold that atta, maida and sujji, which are obtained merely by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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