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TMI Blog1954 (9) TMI 15X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tached to the Saurashtra Sales Tax Ordinance, 1950 (Ordinance No. XVIII of 1950) can be inter- preted so as to include 'Baporiya' (fireworks used during Diwali festival, known as Bengal Light Matches)?" The opponent who is a manufacturer of Bengal Light Matches was assessed by the Sales Tax Officer, Gohilwad, under item No. 5 of the Sales Tax Ordinance. The Saurashtra Sales Tax Tribunal decided that the Bengal Light Matches were not included in the said item and were therefore not liable for assessment to sales tax. The Commissioner of Sales Tax thereupon moved the Tribunal to make the above reference. The Schedule attached to the Ordinance gives a list of goods which are liable to assessment for sales tax under section 6 of the Ordinance. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... atute is of the Court and it has to interpret the law independently of any interpretation put upon it by the executive. This proposition is too well-established to need amplification. The material question however is the second question, viz., whether entry No. 5 can be so interpreted as to include the Bengal Light Matches, which are known in the regional language as "Baporiya". It is common ground that they are only used during the Diwali festivals. The corresponding item in the Bombay Act is item 30 in Schedule I in section 6 of the Bombay Act. The words used in item 5 in the Saurashtra Ordinance are "fireworks of all kinds". The learned Advocate-General therefore argued that by adding the words "of all kinds" to the word "fireworks" in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... also exempted from the Explosive Rules, 1940, by Rule 5. The learned Advocate-General however contended that the category of goods in which Bengal Light Matches are placed in different enactments has been determined with reference to the particular purpose of the Act and therefore the definition of that term contained in one Act cannot be a safe guide in interpreting it when it appears in another Act. This may be so but the term "Bengal Light Matches " has been used in the sense of matches by the legislature in more enactments than one and therefore admits of that interpretation. The Sales Tax Ordinance imposes a pecuniary burden on the subjects and is a taxing Statute and must therefore be strictly construed and in case of reasonable doubt ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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