TMI Blog1992 (9) TMI 313X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... jacks (described by all the statutory authorities as "jackies"). While the assessee contended that these are items assessable at 6 per cent as iron and steel articles not mentioned elsewhere in the First and Second Schedules to the Act and therefore falling under entries 45 or 99 of the First Schedule as they stood before and after July 1, 1987, the Revenue assessed them at 15 per cent or 10 per cent as spare parts or accessories of motor vehicles or tractors under the relevant entries during the two periods, 15 per cent being charged on part of the turnover apportioned to automobiles and 10 per cent on the rest of the turnover apportioned to tractors. In other words, the assessing authority assessed the very same goods, at different rates ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n automobiles. This premise is not acceptable for more than one reason. There was no case for either the assessing authority or the first appellate authority that the assessee was dealing only in those fasteners which were specifically suited or adapted for automobiles. In fact, the materials produced before the Tribunal show that the manufacturers were supplying components of a wide range of application in the general engineering industry. The materials produced show only that the nuts and bolts dealt with were just like any others and there was nothing to show that they were exclusively meant for the automobile industry. The Tribunal also overlooked the fact that the assessee was also a registered dealer in hardwares. The basic assumpti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hundred Chests of Tea [1824] 9 Wheaton (U.S.) 430 at 435, where the learned Judge said that the particular words used by the Legislature in the denomination of articles are to be understood according to the common commercial understanding of the terms used, and not in their scientific or technical sense, for the Legislature does not suppose our merchants to be naturalists or geologists or botanists. 6.. We may also refer at this stage to the decision in Porritts Spencer (Asia) Ltd. v. State of Haryana [1978] 42 STC 433 (SC) where the court observed that the use to which any goods may be put is immaterial, and does not bear on its character as a particular category of goods. The reason for the rule is to avoid uncertainty in the categori ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he nature of the goods cannot be determined by the test of the use to which they are capable of being put. The user test is logical but inconclusive. The particular use to which an article can be applied in the hands of a special customer is not determinative of the nature of the goods. 7.. A sales tax enactment is one which touches the common man and his everyday life and therefore must be understood in the way in which a common man will understand it. In other words, the test is as to what a common man viewing, or dealing with, the article will understand it to be. In doing so, the particular use to which a particular customer may put it should be eschewed from consideration. 8.. We have already pointed out that the nuts and bolts whi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hold that the bolts and nuts dealt with by the assessee cannot be treated as spare parts of automobiles or of tractors; on the other hand, they have to be classified only as nuts and bolts which squarely fall as iron and steel articles not otherwise provided under entry No. 45 or 99 of the First Schedule during the respective periods. 10.. We may also note here that the Board of Revenue which is the supreme statutory authority in the administration of the Act, has itself taken the view that such nuts and bolts fall under the entry "iron and steel articles". It was so stated by them in the communication which they sent to T.V. Sundaram Iyenger Sons Limited on June 26, 1986 when they sought clarification on this point. The Board stated: ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t covers and upholstery manufactured and sold in the course. of his business by a dealer were "accessories" to motor vehicles. In holding so, the court followed its earlier decision in Annapurna Carbon Industries Co. v. State of A.P. [1976] 37 STC 378 and formulated the correct test to be whether the article in question would be an adjunct or an accompaniment or an addition for the convenient use of another part of the vehicle, or adds to the beauty, elegance or comfort in the use of the motor vehicle. In Black's Law Dictionary, accessory is defined as meaning "anything which is joined to another thing as an ornament, or to render it more perfect, or which accompanies it, or is connected with it as an incident, or as subordinate to it, or w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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