9911796707
TMI Blog1952 (7) TMI 10X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat this order of the Sales Tax Officer confirmed by the Commissioner is without jurisdiction in that: (a) ready-made clothes are exempt as they were made out of ex- empted articles specified in item 17 of Schedule I read with the Notification of Government No. 75 dated 2nd August, 1950; (b) as cloth is a commodity essential to the life of the community, any sales tax imposed on it by any Act of the State Legislature unless the same is reserved for the assent of the President of the Republic and has received his assent, is ultra vires Article 286 of the Constitution. With respect to the first point no authority has been cited by the petitioner's Advocate for the proposition that any article made out of an exempted article should also be exe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hem to be construed with strictness in favour of the defendant. They are regarded rather in their remedial character as intended to prevent fraud, suppress public wrong, and promote the public good and are construed so as most effectually to accomplish those objects (See Cliquot's Champagne Fenerstein, Fenerstein v. United States(1) and as cited in Maxwell's Interpretation of Statutes, 8th Edn., page 253). Whatever the view-point, there is authority for the proposition that exemp- tions also must be strictly construed and limited to the exemption itself. In Commissioners of Inland Revenue v. James Forrest(2), certain observations of Lord Halsbury, Lord Chancellor, also support the view that since all exemptions from taxation increase the bu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts value is increased, other work being carried out upon it, whether it be by hand or by machinery in the way of embroidery, tapestry or the like, then the cloth or the shawl or whatever it may be, is not as it comes from the hand-loom, is not hand-loom woven cloth simpliciter, but becomes something more than that." Similarly under the Madras General Sales Tax Act in the case of Varasuki & Co. v. Province of Madras(3), it has been decided that any exemption of any article from sales tax must be confined to the exemption itself and not extended. If salt is exempted, the gunny bags in which it is packed and sold is not exempt and must be included in the definition of (1) (1866) 3 Wall. 145. (3) [1950] 2 S.T.C. 1; [1951] 2 M.L.J. 449. (2) (189 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by law to be essential for the life of the com- munity shall have effect unless it has been reserved for the consideration of the President and has received his assent." Before any law can be impugned as not conforming with the provi- sions of clause (3) of Article 286 there must be a law of the Parliament declaring any commodity or article as being essential for the life of the community. The learned Advocate for the petitioner on being questioned during the course of his arguments as to whether there is any such law of the Legislature, has referred us to the Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act as being that law. But he was not able to show that either ready-made garments or cloth as such was included within the purview of that Act. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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