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TMI Blog1960 (9) TMI 93X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on lungies, roomals, sarees, and shellas. The petitioner challenged these assessment orders on the ground that handloom cloth could not be brought to tax firstly, because, that having been declared as an essential commodity by the Essential Goods (Declaration and Regulation of Tax on Sale or Purchase) Act (Act LII of 1952) any such tax could be imposed only with the assent of the President. Secondly, the exemption from tax which enures for the benefit of dealers being granted through Notification No. 101 dated 11th November, 1950, by the Government could not be taken back and section 7 of the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act, 1950, did not confer any such power. Thirdly, at any rate, the goods being within the meaning of item 22 of Schedule ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es fell within the meaning of item I of Section 3(2-A) of the Madras General Sales Tax Act. Item I was in the following words: "Cotton cloth which is other than woven on handlooms which is fine or superfine." It was argued that the expression "cloth" was confined to a fabric that is sold by yard and cannot extend to fabric that is sold as a unit and that any material that is used for any specific purpose cannot be described as cloth. Support was sought in this behalf from the dictum in Firm Jaswant Rai Jai Narain v. Sales Tax Officer(2). This Court did not agree with this argument. On a careful examination of the connotation of the word "cloth", its dictionary meaning, the sense in which it is used in common parlance, the context in which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Item 22 reads thus: "Handloom cloth other than that specified in item No. 15 costing less than Rs. 3 per yard." Item 15 referred to therein reads thus: "Cotton cloth woven on handlooms exclusively out of handspun yarn and articles made of such cloth and sold by persons certified by AllIndia Spinners' Association and dealing exclusively in these commodities." These two items are included in Schedule I which relates to exempted goods. It is therefore plain that handloom cloth of either description is exempt from assessment to sales tax. All that item 22 requires is that it should be handloom cloth, should be other than specified in item 15, which also is exempt from taxation, and should cost less than Rs. 3 per yard. If these conditions are ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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