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TMI Blog1952 (8) TMI 20X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Taxes are as follows: The petitioner has a rice-milling business at Gauhati which is registered under the Act and supplied rice packed in bags to the Procurement Department of the Government of Assam. The mill also sold some quantities of khudi (broken rice) and bhushi (rice bran) in the open market. Being a registered dealer and rice being an exempt- ed commodity under the Act, the turnover from bags supplied to the Procurement Department and from khudi and bhushi sold in the open market was assessed to tax by the Superintendent of Taxes, Gauhati, on 9th May, 1951. This assessment was challenged before the Assistant Commissioner of Taxes by means of an appeal, dated 5th June, 1951. The objection then taken by the assessee was that for t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s supplied as the Government was charged for the actual price at which the gunny bags were bought and it could not, therefore, be a subject for assessment. In regard to the first branch of Mr. Ghose's argument, there is not much of substance. As defined in the Assam Sales Tax Act, a "dealer" means any person who carries on the business of selling or supplying goods in the Province whether for commission, remuneration or otherwise and the word "goods" means under the Act, all kinds of movable property other than actionable claims etc. Here, undoubtedly gunny bags come within the definition of "goods" and it is also admitted that the suppliers charged the Government for the bags supplied or for the bags which con- tained the rice. This transa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rnover from the supply of bags was liable to be taxed under the Assam Sales Tax Act, 1947. With regard to the second point of reference, that is whether khudi is a form of rice and whether it is exempt from assessment under Item 1 of Schedule III of the Assam Sales Tax Act, 1947, the learned Commis- sioner of Taxes has expressed his view that it is a form of rice and is exempt from assessment under Item 1 of Schedule III. The learned Junior Govern- ment Advocate concedes that it is so and as a matter of fact, it appears to us that khudi is nothing but broken rice and comes within Item 1 of Schedule III of the Act which excludes from assessment all cereals and pulses including all forms of rice except when sold in sealed containers. Here, ev ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r food. In consideration of this fact, we are prepared to uphold the conten- tion on behalf of the assessee that bhushi or rice bran may be considered to be included in the word "cereal" in Item 1 of Schedule III of the Act. In this view, we answer the third question in the affirmative that is, bhushi is exempt from assessment as included in Item 1 of Schedule III. In the final result, we hold that the turnover from the supply of gunny bags is rightly assessed and the two items of khudi and bhushi are not assessable under the Assam Sales Tax Act. As two of the points referred have been decided in favour of the assessee and only one decided against him, we make no order as to costs. The reference is answered as indicated above. RAM LABHAYA, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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