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TMI Blog1967 (4) TMI 174X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es made loose or in unsealed small packets. Be that as it may, in the context it is difficult to give to the expression "sealed container" a meaning different from the ordinary dictionary meaning - Civil Appeal No. 1397, & 1398 of 1966 - - - Dated:- 25-4-1967 - SHAH J.C. AND SIKRI S.M. JJ. N.D. Karkhanis and A.G. Ratnaparkhi, for the respondent. C.B. Agarwala, Senior Advocate (Atiqur-Rehman and O.P. Rana with him), for the appellant. -------------------------------------------------- The judgment of the Court was delivered by SIKRI, J.- These two appeals raise a common question and can be conveniently disposed of together. Civil Appeal No. 1397 of 1966, by special leave, is directed against the judgment of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... teration by dealers at subsequent stages. It is to ensure that only the goods manufactured by the assessees reach the customer as their produce. No adulteration is made in between by the middlemen. This aim is fully met when the pieces of confectionery bear the seal of the firm engraved on each item and they are packed in packages of cardboard or tin covered by cellophane paper. All this practically amounts to sealed containers..." The assessee appealed to the Judge (Appeals) Sales Tax who rejected the contention of the assessee that confectionery was not sold by them in sealed containers. The assessee's representative produced before him lollipops in a closed packet of cardboard and lemondrops contained in a bag of cellophane paper for h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion 'sealed container' should not be given a narrow or restricted meaning. The intention of the Legislature was to give exemption to confectionery sold loose and not to confectionery sold in a securely closed and labelled packet of cardboard." The Judge (Revisions), Sales Tax, then, at the instance of the assessee, referred the question which we have already set out. The High Court answered the question in favour of the assessee. The Commissioner of Sales Tax, U. P., having obtained leave from this Court, the appeal is now before us. The answer to the question depends upon the interpretation of the expression "sealed containers" in clause (2) of Notification No. S.T. 118/X- 929-48 dated June 7, 1948, issued under section 4 of the Act. C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... broken before access can be obtained". The High Court accepted the contention of the learned counsel for the assessee. The High Court observed [1963] 14 S.T.C. 386 at p. 390.: "In commercial world in such trades, particularly where food materials are concerned, it would be seen that the name and reputation of the manufacturer by itself is a sufficient evidence or guarantee of the quality of the contents. The most usual form or method for furnishing such evidence or guarantee of the quality and quantity of the contents is by way of putting its seal by the manufacturer in order to secure the goods in the container in such a manner that to have access to the contents of the container the seal so put has to be destroyed or broken. For if it ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd (4) loose. According to the learned counsel for the respondent the only category which does not enjoy the exemption given by the notification is the first category, i.e., sale in sealed tins. But it is difficult to appreciate why the authority issuing the notification should distinguish between category one and category two. In the case of a sealed tin it has to be cut; in the case of a sealed cardbox the covering has to be torn. A sealed tin may or may not be hermetically sealed. Therefore, the fact that a sealed tin may be airtight and a sealed cardbox is never really airtight does not assist us in deciding the point. Further cardboxes are more often used for the sale of confectionery than tins. It seems to us that it was not the i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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