9911796707
TMI Blog2015 (11) TMI 327X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er authorities, the textile fibres are first opened in blow room section, converted into a lap, fed into a hopper (if required) or directly fed into a card. By the carding process, a web of required weight (per sq. mt.) is formed. While under the traditional process of fabric manufacture, the web so formed is converted into yarns by spinning and subsequently into fabric by weaving of the said yarns. For the direct conversion of the web into fabric form, the following process is adopted: The fibre web is converted into fabric form by the physical entanglement of the constituent fibres. This is achieved by needling of the fabric web by passing it through a needle loom machine. The needle loom machine comprises rows of vertical needles, each having a barb. As the web moves through the needle loom machine, the needles are caused to punch their way downwards through the fibres and then return. The barb on each needle moving through the web mechanically entangles and bonds the constituent fibres. The needling process is then repeated; the number of such repetitions depends upon the type of fabric (in terms of compactness) required to be produced. 3. It is the claim of the assessee that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... entirely for a different purpose. It was further vehemently contended that the Tax Board had no expertise to come to a conclusion and on mere seeing of the samples produced by the assessee, the Tax Board ought not to have given finding on the issue and to hold that the items confirm to pliability and he contended that the matter deserves to be restored and be sent to some expert body for its expert opinion. 7. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent-assessee contended that the assessee manufactures five items and is satisfied about the items where the Tax Board has held the tax leviable on items namely; F. F. B. 2 and F. F. B. W. 1., however the assessee was within its right to claim exemption on other item though on or before April 5, 1984 the proposition was accepted by the assessee but on and from April 5, 1984, as per the notification, the assessee was entitled to the exemption available to it. He further contended that a fabric will remain a fabric whether used for different purposes and the Tax Board, after analysing the material on record, rightly came to the conclusion that items F. F. B. 2 and F. F. B. W. 1. are taxable fabrics and rest of the products of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or yarns, natural or artificial, obtained by inter-placing." 9. The court is required to consider the plain and simple meaning of the term fabric/textile and the product comes out as a fabric though it may have been used as a matting and was supplied to car manufacturers namely; Maruti Udyog Ltd. and Premier Automobiles Ltd. which, in my view, does not make any difference. Once the product manufactured by the assessee is held to be fabric, the nature would remain the same and it would continue to remain as textile/fabric. 10. The assessee displayed the samples of the products in question not only before the Tax Board but was available in the file of the learned AO and the Tax Board has come to a definite finding of fact and after verification of the items has come to the conclusion that the items fully withstand the test of pliability and once the factual finding has come on record, the view of the Tax Board, after analysing the material on record, appears to be well justified. 11. It is also an admitted fact that the assessee manufactured five items and out of five, two items, namely; F. F. B. 2 and F. F. B. W. 1 have been found as a finding of fact that these items have been ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... has, having regard to newly developing materials, methods, techniques and processes, a continually expanding content and new kinds of fabric may be invented which may legitimately, without doing any violence to the language, be regarded as "textile". It held thus (pages 438 and 439 in 42 STC): ". . . It is true that our minds are conditioned by old and antiquated notions of what are textiles and, therefore, it may sound a little strange to regard 'dryer felts' as 'textiles'. But it must be remembered that the concept of 'textiles' is not a static concept. It has, having regard to newly developing materials, methods, techniques and processes, a continually expanding content and new kinds of fabric may be invented which may legitimately, without doing any violence to the language, be regarded as 'textiles'. Take for example rayon and nylon fabrics which have now become very popular for making wearing apparel. When they first came to be made, they must have been intruders in the field of 'textiles' because only cotton, silk and woollen fabrics were till then recognized as 'textiles'. But today no one can dispute that rayon and nylon fa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bjecting them to heat and moisture. Twenty-six samples of felt of varying hardness, density and thickness were produced before the Commissioner along with an application under section 42B of the Act for determination of their taxability. After affording full hearing to the appellants, the Commis sioner passed an order holding that though the expression 'cloth' in item 6 of Schedule I to the Act would take in non-woven material inclusive of felt, pliability was an essential attribute of 'cloth' and only those varieties of felt manufactured by the appellants which satisfied the test of pliability could be legitimately classified as cloth. . ." 15. The honourable apex court in the case of Delhi Cloth & General Mills Co. Ltd. v. State of Rajasthan [1980] 46 STC 256 (SC), held that "The 'rayon tyre cord fabric' manufactured by the appellant for use in the manufacture of tyres is a woven fabric in which the intermediate process of weaving the weft thread across the warp cord is an integral stage of manufacture. It is, therefore, a rayon fabric covered by item 18 of the Schedule to the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, and exempt from sales tax under the Central Sale ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
