TMI Blog1997 (2) TMI 533X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t on the inter-State sale of maize oil. An additional demand of Rs. 1,02,521 was created. 3.. Edible oil has not been defined in the Punjab General Sales Tax Act. The Assessing Authority took the view that maize oil was not an edible oil on the ground that it was sold by the assessee in crude form and it required further processing in order to meet the requisite standards prescribed in the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. Since it was sold in its crude form, it was said to be not fit for human consumption. The assessee went in appeal first before the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner and then before the Sales Tax Tribunal but did not succeed. 4.. Mr. R.P. Sawhney, learned Senior Counsel for the assessee, has argued that maize oil was marketed in India as well as foreign countries as an edible oil. It is increasingly and widely being now used in the manufacture of vanaspati. Earlier, maize oil was used in manufacturing non-edible industrial products but, in recent years, on account of scarcity of edible oils and keeping in view that maize oil contained nutritious fat, it was commonly used as edible oil, especially in the manufacture of vanaspati oil. 5.. Since ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... evant for the purposes of the present controversy inasmuch as stringent requirements for the purposes of prevention of adulteration in food are aimed at ensuring good health for the citizens. The degree and standard of purity of an oil may be different in respect of different individuals, looking to the health requirements. For the purposes of preventing adulteration in food and for ensuring good health for the public, the Government specified hardened and stringent standards of purification in the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules. The broad question, for the purpose of determining whether an oil was an edible oil under a tax law, needs determination not in the light of the standards and specifications laid down under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules but in the light of the principle as to how the term is used in common parlance. If maize oil is widely and generally used for the manufacture of vegetable ghee as an important raw material, it should be, in the opinion of Shri Sawhney, treated to be an edible oil. It is pointed out by Shri Sawhney that the buyers have certified in respect of the maize oil produced by the assessee that it contained less than 5 per cent fr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion Act, 1954, were not required to be invoked. The petitioner was not facing a case for violation of that Act or the Rules framed thereunder. It was held that washed cotton-seed oil was processed and used for human consumption and was, therefore, an edible oil. 12.. The words charcoal and coal were examined by the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh v. Jaswant Singh Charan Singh [1967] 19 STC 469. It found that, under the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, the word coal had been used but the word charcoal had not been used. It was observed that the test that would be applicable was, what is the meaning which persons dealing with coal and consumers purchasing it as fuel would give to that word. A sales tax statute, being one levying tax on goods, must, in the absence of a technical term or a term of science or art, be presumed to have used an ordinary term as coal according to the meaning ascribed to it in common parlance. Viewed from that angle, both the merchant dealing in coal and a consumer wanting to purchase it, would regard coal not in its geological sense but in the sense as ordinarily understood and would include charcoal in th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ean raw oil, Grade I, and unrefined sunflower cake oil would not fall under the category of units manufacturing edible oil. The aforesaid units were, therefore, held entitled to avail of the tax benefits under the amended scheme also. It was, therefore, held that washed cotton-seed oil, sold without further processing, did not constitute edible oil. Since the legislative enactment in that case had specified non-edible oils, the said decision of the Supreme Court, relied upon by the learned counsel for the respondent herein, does not help. 15.. Rice bran oil has been treated to be not an edible oil by this Court in Chhatar Extractions Pvt. Limited v. Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab, Chandigarh [1986] 61 STC 374. It was noticed that the constituents of the oil were not necessarily edible. The rice bran oil became edible after it was refined. The learned counsel for the Revenue, drawing strength from the said observations of this Court, has argued that, in the present case of the assessee herein, the maize oil was not fit for human consumption directly, because it was sold for further processing to the vegetable oil producers. Therefore, as per the learned counsel for the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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