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TMI Blog1972 (11) TMI 66X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... elling food colours and syrup essences. The dealer also carries on the business of petroleum jelly but we are not concerned with that item in this appeal; nor are we concerned with the sales of imported scents and perfumes which, according to the order of the Sales Tax Officer, were separately shown in the statement filed by the dealer, during the assessment proceedings for the year 1960-61. For the said year the Sales Tax Officer taxed food colours and syrup essences imported by the dealer from outside Uttar Pradesh under section 3-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 (15 of 1948) (hereinafter called the Act) treating them as imported colours and perfumes. The figures of the dealer's trading account were accepted by the Sales Tax Officer. The dealer, according to whom, food colours and syrup essences being unclassified goods were taxable under section 3 and not under section 3-A of the Act, unsuccessfully appealed against the order of the Sales Tax Officer to the Assistant Commissioner (judicial) II, Sales Tax, Kanpur. Further revision to the court of the judge (Revisions), Sales Tax, Lucknow, also failed. It may, however, be pointed out that for the assessment year 1957-58 the appel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ter it is made and if a resolution amending or modifying it is passed by the Assembly within the session in which it is laid, it shall, from the date of passing of the resolution, be amended or modified accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done or of any liability incurred or assessment made." On March 31, 1956, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh issued a notification in exercise of the powers conferred by section 3-A of the Act. That notification so far as relevant for our purpose reads: "Notification No. ST-905/X dated March 31, 1956. In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, as amended from time to time and in supersession of all previous notifications on the subject, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh is hereby pleased to declare that the turnover in respect of the goods specified in the List below shall not with effect from April 1, 1956, be liable to tax except- (a) in the case of goods imported from outside Uttar Pradesh, at the point of sale by the importer; and (b) in the case of goods manufactured in Uttar Pradesh, at the point of sale by the manufacturer; and the Governor is further pleased to declar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... " in entry No. 10 of the List in the notification in question and the words "scents and perfumes" in entry No. 37 of the said List are unqualified and there being no limitation discernible on their plain and general meaning, they must be held to be wide enough to cover "food colours" and "syrup essences". In seeking support for this submission reference was made to the Random House Dictionary of the English language (prepared in U.S.A.) for ascertaining the meanings of the words "colour" (color, as spelt in this dictionary), "dye" and "essence", as also to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vols. 8 and 17, and Corpus Juris Secundum, Vols. 28 and 70, for the same purpose. Strong reliance was placed on the decision of this court in Commissioner of Sales Tax, U.P. v. Indian Herbs Research & Supply Co. [1970] 26 S.T.C. 339 (S.C.)., in which the word "perfume" was held to include "dhoop" and "dhoop-batti". The word "perfume", it may be recalled occurs in the entry No. 37 of the List in the notification in question. In our opinion the Random House Dictionary cannot serve as a safe guide in construing the words used in the List in the notification in question for the purpose of deciding whether o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es, sales and purchases of which are liable to be taxed, given in a statute, unless defined in the statute, must be construed not in a technical sense but as understood in common parlance. In this decision reference was made to an earlier decision of this court by five Judges in Ramavatar Budhaiprasad v. Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Akola [1961] 12 S.T.C. 286 (S.C.), in which "betel leaves" were not considered as "vegetable". In Commissioner of Sales Tax, M.P., Indore v. Jaswant Singh Charan Singh [1967] 19 S.T.C. 469 (S.C.), the word "coal" was held by this court to include "charcoal", it being observed that, while interpreting items in statutes like the Sales Tax Acts, resort should be had not to the scientific or technical meaning of such terms, but to their popular meaning or the meaning attached to them by those dealing in them, that is to say, to their commercial sense. In the course of the judgment, after referring to certain decisions, including the decisions from Australian, Canadian and English courts, it was observed: "The result emerging from these decisions is that while construing the word 'coal' in entry 1 of Part III of Schedule II, the test that would be applied i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... "salt" in entry No. 34, the "sugar manufactured by mills" (entry No. 40) and "vanaspati, including refined coconut oil" (entry No. 43), which is capable of being used as medium for cooking and prima facie edible, there does not seem to be any other edible article included in the List. Item No. 25 speaks of "oils of all kinds other than edible oils manufactured on ghanis by human or animal power". This scheme suggests that, apart from the undoubted edible goods, in cases where the import of the specified goods is wide enough to include both edible and non-edible category then the intention has been clearly expressed whether or not to include edible goods. Now in the case of entries Nos. 10 and 37 we are inclined to think in agreement with the High Court that these entries are not intended to extend to edible colours like food colours and to edible essences like syrup essences. It would indeed be straining the meanings of the words and expressions in those entries as understood in popular commercial sense to include edible colours and essences. If the intention of the State Government was to include food colours in entry No. 10 and syrup essences in entry No. 37 then in our view the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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