9911796707
TMI Blog1991 (8) TMI 288X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... appellant. -------------------------------------------------- The judgment of the Court was delivered by KULDIP SINGH, J.- The short question for our consideration in this appeal is whether a sugarcane crusher (kohlu) is an "agricultural implement" within the meaning of U.P. Government notification dated November 14, 1980, and as such is exempt from levy of sales tax. M/s. D.H. Brothers Pvt. Ltd., a registered dealer under the U.P. Sales Tax Act, is engaged in the sale of machinery including sugarcane crushers. After coming into force of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 (hereinafter called "the Act"), the State Government issued a notification dated June 7, 1948, exempting agricultural implements from the levy of sales ta ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 0 of the Act. The Tribunal upheld the findings of the Commissioner and dismissed the appeal. Thereafter the assessee preferred a revision petition under section 11 of the Act before the Allahabad High Court. The High Court, relying on its earlier decision in Bharat Engineering and Foundry Works v. U.P. Government [1963] 14 STC 262, dismissed the revision petition. In that case the question for consideration before the High Court was "whether cane crushers are agricultural implements within the meaning of the words 'agricultural implements' as mentioned in the Government Notification No. S.T. 119/X-928 dated June 7, 1948 made under section 4, U.P. Sales Tax Act of 1948 and hence exempt from U.P. sales tax." The question was answered in the n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nquire what is the connotation of the term 'agriculture'. As we have noted above, the primary sense in which the term agriculture is understood is agar-field and cultra-cultivation, i.e., the cultivation of the field, and if the term is understood only in that sense agriculture would be restricted only to cultivation of the land in the strict sense of the term meaning thereby, tilling of the land, sowing of the seeds, planting and similar operations on the land. They would be the basic operations and would require the expenditure of human skill and labour upon the land itself. There are however other operations which have got to be resorted to by the agriculturist and which are absolutely necessary for the purpose of effectively raising t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sive it has a wider import and any other implement which answers the description of an agricultural implement can be included in the definition. A bare reading of the notification, however, shows that all the implements mentioned by name after the word "including....." are by and large those which are used for cultivation of land and other operations which foster the growth and preserve the agricultural produce. None of these implements can be worked after the agricultural process in respect of a crop comes to an end. Therefore the intention of the framers of the notification could only be to limit the general words in the notification to the implements of the same kind as are specified therein. We are, therefore, of the view that on the pl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
