9911796707
TMI Blog1995 (7) TMI 419X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... are tax-free or non-taxable goods. It is a registered dealer under the 1941 Act. The hosiery goods are sold and marketed after packing the same in polythene packs and pitchboard boxes. No separate price is charged for the packing materials. Applicants claim that they are entitled to purchase these packing materials at concessional rate of tax on furnishing declaration in form XXIVA. Allegedly, applicants were paying concessional rate of tax for such purchases on furnishing declarations up to the year 1991. Like previous years, they again applied to respondent No. 2, Commercial Tax Officer, Armenian Street Charge, Calcutta for issuance of declarations in form XXIVA for purchase of packing materials at concessional rate of tax under section 5(1)(bb)(ii). The application was rejected by respondent No. 2 by his order dated April 28, 1995. According to the applicants, section 5(1)(bb)(i) of the 1941 Act provides for such concessional rate of tax of 2 per cent in respect of goods directly used for manufacture of taxable goods for sale and also for purchase of containers and other materials for packing of goods specified in the certificate of registration of the dealer. In the registratio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... taxable turnover as represents sales to a registered dealer of goods, other than gold, of the class or classes specified in the certificate of registration of such dealer, as being intended for use by him directly in the manufacture in West Bengal of taxable goods,................. for sale, .........................., by him in West Bengal, and of containers and other materials for the packing of goods of the class or classes so specified; (ii) two per centum of such part of his taxable turnover as represents sales to a registered dealer of containers and other materials for the packing of goods which are intended for use by him in the packing in West Bengal of taxable goods, .......manufactured by him in West Bengal for sale,............... by him in West Bengal. Explanation.-For the purposes of sub-clause (i) and sub-clause (ii) the expression- (a) 'taxable goods' means and includes goods, other than those which are tax-free under sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of sub-section (2), and (b) .............................." It may be mentioned here that under section 5(2)(a), sale of goods declared tax-free under section 6 is to be deducted from "taxable turnover" for the purpos ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al, or containers and other materials for the packing of goods of the class or classes so specified. ..........................." 6.. Although the prayers in the present application included a prayer for issuance of declaration for the purchase of a generator by the applicants, that prayer was abandoned at the time of hearing. It was not pressed at all. What Mr. M.L. Bhattacharya, learned advocate for the applicants, pressed, was for issuance of declaration forms for purchase of packing materials only. 7. Mr. Bhattacharya submitted that the words-"and of containers and other materials for the packing of goods of the class or classes so specified"in clause (i) of section 5(1)(bb) should be interpreted as beginning with "and" used in a disjunctive sense. In this connection, he drew our attention to the word -"or"-used at the same place in clause (a) of rule 27A(1a). Mr. Bhattacharya submitted that if the above portion of section 5(1)(bb)(i) regarding packing materials is read in the above manner, it will be clear that packing materials related to all the goods specified in the purchasing dealer's registration certificate, irrespective of whether the purchasing dealer manufactures ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m in West Bengal for sale. The obvious legislative intention is to allow the concessional rate only to purchasing manufacturing dealers who will subsequently pay tax on the manufactured goods. Therefore, even under clause (ii) of section 5(1)(bb), the concession is available to a dealer who will use the packing materials for packing taxable goods manufactured by him in West Bengal. In any case, the second part of clause (i) of section 5(1)(bb) which is resorted to by the applicants should be interpreted with particular reference to the expression-"so specified". The second part reads-"and of containers and other materials for the packing of goods of the class or classes so specified". In my opinion, it makes no difference if the word-"and"-appearing in the beginning of the second part of section 5(1)(bb)(i) is interpreted as conjunctive or disjunctive. The real question is: what is the meaning of "so specified"? That is the linkage with the first part of clause (i). Therefore, simply the goods specified in the certificate of registration is not the criterion. The criterion is goods specified in the registration certificate, as being intended by him for direct use in the manufactur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
