2006 (7) TMI 598

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..... mption from sales tax under entry 18 of the Third Schedule to the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 which provides for exemption for "dried fish and fresh fish". The respondent is engaged in sale of baby fish to fish farms. The assessing officer took the view that the item referred to in entry 18 of the Third Schedule, that is, fish whether dried or fresh, is a food commodity. Since bab .....

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..... Even though we are prima facie in agreement with the argument of Special Government Pleader that entry 18 of the Third Schedule generally treats fish as a food commodity, we do not think the intention of the Legislature is to tax baby fish hatched and sold to fish farms, for more than one reason. In the first place, entry 37 of the Third Schedule provides for exemption of marine products such as .....

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..... ules or elsewhere in the Act that the Legislature wanted a disincentive for fish farmers by taxing baby fish purchased by fish farms for rearing. Above all, there is no entry in the Schedules to the Act to levy tax on any other category of fish which are ordinarily not used as food such as ornamental fish kept in aquariums. In the circumstances, we are of the view that fish in all forms, whether b .....

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