9911796707
TMI Blog1973 (4) TMI 95X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er's business is to purchase "whole" turmeric and black pepper from the market, to crush them into powder and to sell such powdered turmeric and black pepper. The petitioner purchased between 30th July, 1963, and 15th November, 1963, "whole" turmeric and "whole" black pepper in the State of West Bengal and paid tax on the said purchase under the Act. He filed his return for the period of assessment between 30th July, 1963, to 15th November, 1963 (Dewali year 2020), showing his gross turnover for the period at Rs. 29,461.48. As the entire sale consisted of powdered turmeric and powdered black pepper, the petitioner claimed exemption in respect of the tax on such sale as he had purchased on payment of tax under the Act from the local market. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oner moved this court and obtained a rule nisi. The main contention urged before me by Mr. Aloke Chakraborty, the learned counsel for the petitioner, is that the conversion of "whole" turmeric and black pepper into powdered form by crushing cannot be said to be manufacture or an act of processing and hence the petitioner does not satisfy the test of a dealer within the meaning of section 2(b) of the Act in respect of the sale of the said commodity in its powdered form. To appreciate this contention it is necessary to refer to certain relevant provisions of the Act. The Act imposes a tax on the sale of certain notified commodities in West Bengal. Notified commodity, according to section 2(a) of the Act, means any commodity specified under se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e absence of any definition of the word "manufacture" in the Act, the word should be given the same meaning as is attributed to it in ordinary parlance. Etymologically the word "manufacture" comes from the Latin word manu, which means "hand" and the word facere, which means "to make". In origin, therefore, the word implied the making of anything by hand. With the passage of time this expression "manufacture" has acquired different shades of meaning. The most generic meaning of the term "manufacture" is "action or process of making articles or material by the application of physical labour or mechanical power". The other limited meaning of the word implies a transformation of raw materials into a commercial commodity or a finished product wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd regular action leading to the accomplishment of some result. In the case of Sri Om Prakas Gupta v. Commissioner of Commercial Taxes[1965] 16 S.T.C. 935. , B.N. Banerjee, J., held that converting camphor powder into camphor cubes is an act of processing within the meaning of section 2(b) of the Act. His Lordship held that the word "processed" appearing in section 2 (b) of the Act has been used in the general sense. It is not one of the requisites that the activity should involve some operation on some material in order to its conversion to some other stuff. In my opinion, the contention of the learned counsel for the respondent is correct. If the word "processed" is to be construed in a general way requiring only continuous and regular ac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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