TMI Blog1986 (2) TMI 58X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he test of pliability will constitute "cloth" so as to fall within the scope of Entry 6 of Schedule I of the Act. There is absolutely no material on the record to show which out of these 26 varieties was sent as specimen to the Commissioner in 1971. In these circumstances the principle of equitable estoppel is not attracted. - 8548 of 1983 - - - Dated:- 11-2-1986 - O. Chinnappa Reddy, E.S. Venkataramiah, V. Balakrishna Eradi, R.B. Misra, V. Khalid, JJ. P. Govindan Nair, Senior Avocate (S.K. Gambir, Advocate, with him), for the appellants A.K. Sanghi, Advocate, for the respondent. [Judgment per : Balakrishna Eradi, J.]. - The short but interesting question that arises for our consideration in this appeal by special leave is whether the Compressed Woollen Felts manufactured in the small-scale industry unit of the appellants can be said to constitute "cloth" so as to fall within the scope of Entry 6 of Schedule I of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958 (for short 'the Act'), which is in the following terms :- "All varieties of Cloth manufactured in mills or on powerlooms or hand-looms including processed cloth, but 'excluding hessian cloth"-so as to be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lai) Additional Commissioner for Commissioner of Sales Tax Madhya Pradesh." 6. It is common ground that apparently on the basis of the said letter of the Commissioner of Sales Tax, the turnover of the appellants pertaining to the sales of compressed woollen felt was not subjected to tax during the period from 1971 to 1982. 7. While matters stood thus, the Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh issued the following letter (Annexure II) to the appellants on March 4, 1982 :- "OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER SALES TAX MADHYA PRADESH No. ST/I-310/24(b)79/2872 Indore , dated 4-3-1982 To M/s. Filterco, Garden 51, Neemuch (Madhya Pradesh) Sub :- Levy of sales tax on compressed woollen felt. In view of the judgment given by the Supreme Court in the case of M/s. Gujarat Woollen Mills (A.I.R. 1977 S.C. 1548) that the compressed woollen felts are not "woollen fabrics", Compressed Woollen Felts manufactured by you will not be exempt under Entry 6 of Schedule I of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 but will be covered under Entry 1 of Part VI of Schedule II appended to the said Act, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent against them. The High Court dismissed the Writ Petition without entering into the merits by stating thus :- "It is not the case of the petitioners that in passing the impugned order, the Commissioner, therefore has acted contrary to the procedure prescribed by the Act or the Rules made thereunder. The petitioners having referred the dispute to the Commissioner, he had jurisdiction to pass the impugned order. At this stage, we refrain from expressing any opinion regarding the correctness of the impugned order because that order would not be binding on the appellate authorities under the Act, which would, no doubt, examine the question afresh if raised before them by the petitioners. If the petitioners are aggrieved by the decision of the appellate authorities, a reference to this Court under Section 44 of the Act can be made. As a remedy is available to the petitioners under the Act, it is not necessary to invoke the extraordinary powers of this Court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India". Aggrieved by the said decision of the High Court the appellants have filed this appeal after obtaining special leave. 11. We are of opinion that the High Court should ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat sense which people conversant with the subject-matter with which the statute is dealing would attribute to it' ". The same principle was expressed in a slightly different language by Story J., in 200 Chests of Tea -(1824) 9 Wheaton (U.S.) 430 at 438, where the learned Judge said that "the particular words used by the legislature in the denomination of articles are to be understood according to the common commercial understanding of the terms used, and not in their scientific or technical sense, 'for the legislature does not suppose our merchants to be naturalists, or geologists, or botanists' ". This Court has reiterated the said position in Motipur Zamindary Company Ltd. v. State of Bihar-(1962) 13 S.T.C. 1 (S.C.); State of West Bengal v. Washi Ahmed-(1977) 39 S.T.C. 378 (S.C.) and Porritts and Spencer (Asia) Ltd. v. State of Haryana - 1983 E.L.T. 1607 (S.C.) = (1978) 42 S.T.C. 433 (S.C.). 13. According to Oxford English Dictionary "cloth" means- "A piece of pliable woven or felted stuff, suitable for wrapping or winding around, spreading or folding over, drying, wiping or other purpose; a swaddling or winding cloth, wrap, covering, vail, curtain, handkerchief, towel etc" ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ture in paper manufacturing units fell within the ordinary and common parlance sense of the word "textiles" in item 30 of Schedule B to the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 and were, therefore, exempt from tax. Upholding the said contention this Court held that expression "textiles" interpreted according to its popular sense has only one meaning, namely a woven fabric and since the dryer felts were manufactured out of cotton, woollen or synthetic yarn by the process of weaving according to the wrap and woof pattern, they were undoubtedly "textiles" within the meaning of that expression in item 30 of Schedule B. The subject matter of the case before us being admittedly felt manufactured by a totally different process and the wording of the Entry 6 in Schedule I of the statute, with which we are concerned being also wholly different, these two decisions are of no assistance to us. 17. Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants relied strongly on the letter of the Commissioner of Sales Tax dated August 7, 1971-Annexure I and sought to invoke to the principle of equitable estoppel as debarring the respondents from contending that the goods in question are ineligible for the ben ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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