9911796707
TMI Blog1968 (2) TMI 110X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h Brahmi Oil is a perfumed oil?" The Sales Tax Authorities have purported to tax the oil in question under entry 39 of Schedule B to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953, which is in the following terms: "39. Toilet articles except such articles as may be specified by the State Government by notification in the official Gazette." As the Court is concerned in the present references with the period between the 1st of April, 1954, and the 31st of March, 1957, it is common ground that the relevant notification for purposes of the present references is the one dated 19th November, 1954, which is in the following terms: "No. STA. 1054-XII-In pursuance of the provisions of entry 39 of Schedule B to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 (Bom. 3 of 1953), ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s to the said laboratories. One was the steaming and distillation test, and the other was the alcoholic test, and the result of both those tests was stated in the said report as being that the Ramtirth Brahmi Oil did "not contain any added perfume or compound with pleasant odour". Mr. Banaji has, however, contended, on the strength of two authorities which were cited by him, one of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh, Indore v. Shri Sadhna Aushadhalaya[1963] 14 S.T.C. 813. and the other of the Supreme Court in Ramavatar Budhaiprasad v. Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Akola, and Another[1961] 12 S.T.C. 286 at p. 288., that items in the Sales Tax Act must be construed not in any technical sense, nor from an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sumers should not be taxed, but oils used for toilet purposes which are merely perfumed for the purpose of, what may be said to be, alluring customers into using them, though they have no other medicinal properties, should be taxed. It is, therefore, quite clear that if one has regard to the object which underlies the distinction that is sought to be made between perfumed oils on the one hand, and all other oils for toilet use on the other, it fortifies the construction which we have placed upon the expression "perfumed oil" as a matter of plain language. In the light of this construction of the expression "perfumed oil", we must now turn to the ingredients of the Ramtirth Brahmi Oil which are stated in paragraph 8 of the Tribunal's order ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t, and the Tribunal was satisfied that the oil in question was scented with perfume, but we are afraid, the Tribunal cannot proceed to decide the case on its own opinion about the product as produced before it. The position, therefore, is that it must be held that the Ramtirth Brahmi Oil does not possess any ingredients which have been added, only on account of their quality of perfume. If some of them have, in addition to their medicinal properties, the quality of some sort of perfume, it cannot lead to the result that, by incorporating those ingredients, the applicants have "perfumed" the oil. In the result, we answer the question referred to us in the negative. The respondent must pay the applicants' costs fixed at Rs. 250 as one set o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
