TMI Blog1976 (3) TMI 240X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e price of jeera, dhania (coriander), panmohuri, methi, postak and pipall and levied 5 per cent sales tax under the Orissa Sales Tax Act (briefly the State Act). On appeal the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax, Puri, allowed the claim of the respondent and held that the above items are oil-seeds within the meaning of section 14(vi) of the Central Sales Tax Act and gave the respondent the benefit of a lower tax of 2 per cent on the sale turnover of those goods instead of 5 per cent under the State Act. On appeal by the State of Orissa to the Sales Tax Tribunal claiming 5 per cent on the sale turnover thereof under the provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act, the orders of the Assistant Commissioner were affirmed. On application by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ds yielding non-volatile oils used for human consumption, or in industry, or in the manufacture of varnishes, soaps and the like, or in lubrication, and volatile oils used chiefly in medicines, perfumes, cosmetics and the like . The above definition is an explanatory one and uses mentioned therein cover a wide range. If the particular items which are assessed under the State Act can be brought under the definition of oil-seeds , as given in the above provision, the assessee will be entitled to a lower levy of sales tax. Mr. Mahajan appearing on behalf of the appellant sumbits that the Court should adopt the meaning given to these items in common parlance and by the people who use the articles. He chiefly relies upon a decision of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... desh Sales Tax Act. It is interesting that on this finding of that Court coriander escaped altogether from assessment. In Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh, Indore, v. Bakhat Rai and Co., the Madhya Pradesh High Court also took the same view as that of the Andhra Pradesh High Court while dealing with item 3, Part II, Schedule 1 of the C.P. and Berar Sales Tax Act. In the Madhya Pradesh case, however, the term 'oil-seed' has not been defined under the Act. The Court, therefore, held that since it was an item of every day use it must be construed in its popular meaning, that is to say, in that sense which people conversant with the subject matter with which the statute was dealing would attribute to it. The Division Benc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... olden yellow liquid with pleasant taste and odour extracted from the seeds and it is used as food oil, artist's colours, varnishes lubrication. Methi (Fenugreek); botanical name trigonella Foenumgraecum (vide p. 164, vol. 9 of the Encyclopaedia Britannica). It is stated inter alia therein that it bears a sickle-shaped pod, containing from 10 to 20 seeds, from which 6% of a foetid, fatty, and bitter oil can be extracted by ether . Besides, the High Court also had before it the notification of the Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India, dated January 3, 1959, wherein amongst other commodities the following were stated to be included in the term oil- seeds under item (vi) of section 14 of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uch an opinion of the Government as good evidence for its conclusion, to the opinions relied upon by the Andhra Pradesh High Court on which great reliance has been placed by the appellant. A persual of the contents of the letters referred to in the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court would indicate that the opinions cannot be said to be very firm or even final. Apart from this, it is not known whether all the uses which are mentioned in the definition of oil-seeds were brought to the notice of the National Chemical Laboratory, Poona and of the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, in rendering their opinions. If, therefore, the Tribunal in the facts and circumstances of the case held that the particular commodities ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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