TMI Blog1992 (8) TMI 253X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l units in the State like H.M.T., Widia (India), rubber industries, dairies and ice manufacturing units. For the assessment year 1981-82 the Commercial Tax Officer determined the assessee's taxable turnover at Rs. 15,00,411.16 and levied tax at 8 per cent under entry No. 79 of the Second Schedule, treating the product as a chemical. Subsequently, the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes initiated suo motu proceedings under section 21(2) of the Act, proposing to levy tax at 10 per cent under entry No. 121 of the Second Schedule, treating the product as "industrial gas". Accepting the contention that since the company had sold anhydrous ammonia in liquid form, and on the basis of the certificate issued by the Fertilisers and Chemicals Trav ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ious industrial units for industrial purpose and used as industrial gas, the commodity squarely comes within the purview of entry No. 121, and it is taxable as such. 5.. In Porritts Spencer (Asia) Ltd. v. State of Haryana [1978] 42 STC 433, while interpreting the word "textiles" in item 30 of Schedule B to the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, the Supreme Court has held that the word must be interpreted according to its popular sense; meaning, that sense which people conversant with the subject-matter with which the statute is dealing would attribute to it. 6.. In Bishambar Dayal Shri Niwas v. Commissioner of Sales Tax [1963] 14 STC 184, a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court has held thus: "Having regard to the intention of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g interests, a citizen should be given the benefit as against the State is not excluded. The same idea is conveyed when it is said that if an article is to be taxed and the said article may fall within two entries, the entry which is more beneficial to the assessee will have to be accepted as applicable to the article in question." 8.. In Commissioner, Sales Tax v. Prayag Chemical Works [1970] 25 STC 85 (All.) [FB], an identical entry in the U.P. Sales Tax Act, namely, "chemicals of all kinds" came up for interpretation. R.S. Pathak, J. (as he then was), has held that whether a commodity can be described as a "chemical" for the purpose of the entry in the notification must be determined not by the use for which a particular purchaser buys ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y on the soil. It may also be used, after necessary processing, in the gaseous form for certain purposes. One thing appears to be clear that in its soluble form and the subsequent storage, it is essentially a chemical in the liquid form and sold as such, notwithstanding the specific user (which is not clear in this case) by the purchasers which are industrial units. 11.. Sri Dattu, however, strongly relied upon the decision of this Court in Rao and Company v. State of Karnataka [1981] 47 STC 421. The question that arose for consideration in that case was whether "carbon dioxide" is "industrial gas" falling under entry No. 121 of the Second Schedule to the Act. It was not disputed therein that the commodity is an industrial gas. However, o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... v. Commissioner of Sales Tax) and [1970] 25 STC 85 (All.) [FB] (Commissioner, Sales Tax v. Prayag Chemical Works) the nature of the commodity has to be construed mainly from the point of view of the vendor; and thirdly, the meaning of the word in common parlance and the common user thereof, namely, the user of anhydrous ammonia, directly as a fertilizer which appears to be its dominant use. 12.. In the view we have taken above, "anhydrous ammonia" sold by the appellant does not fall within the purview of entry No. 121 of the Second Schedule for the purpose of levying sales tax as held by the Joint Commissioner. The appeal is accordingly allowed. The impugned order passed by the Joint Commissioner is hereby set aside. Appeal allowed. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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