9911796707
TMI Blog1972 (8) TMI 125X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3.99 relating to the sales of tannery waste. He determined the taxable turnover of the assessee as Rs. 12,91,408.31 and assessed him at 2 per cent. on Rs. 12,65,077.41 and at one per cent. on Rs. 26,330.90. The assessee had contended before the assessing authority that the purchase of raw reptile skins would fall under item 52 of the First Schedule of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act and not under item 7(a) of the Second Schedule. According to the assessing authority, the purchase of reptile skins is taxable at the hands of the assessee as the last purchase under item 7(a) of Schedule II of the Act. Aggrieved by this, the assessee preferred an appeal to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner who, by his order dated 31st August, 1964, ne ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Assistant Commissioner rightly took the purchase of raw reptile skins by the assessee from the local dealers alone as the last purchase within the State. The question posed before us by the learned counsel for the assessee relates to the relative scope of item 52 of Schedule I and item 7(a) of Schedule II which are as follows: Item 52 of Schedule I: Furs and skins (other than those of At the point of first sale cattle, sheep and goats) and articles in the State at 6 per of personal or domestic use made cent. therefrom Item 7(a) of Schedule II: Raw hides and skins At the point of last purchase in the State at 2 per cent. If item 52 of Schedule I is taken to cover the reptile skins, the assessee has to be taxed only on his first ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... incorporated as item 7(a) and 7(b) of the Second Schedule to the Madras General Sales Tax Act, and the expression has to be understood as relating only to "hides and skins" of cattle, sheep and goats and not to reptile skins, whether raw or dressed. But, we are not able to appreciate the contention that item 3 relating to hides and skins in section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act could be taken to refer only to skins of cattle, sheep and goats. We are of the view that there is no reason as to why the scope of the words "hides and skins" ought to be restricted to the skins of cattle, sheep and goats. There is nothing to suggest from the words in that item that the intention of the Legislature is to give a restricted meaning to the words. We ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... age and at the rate exceeding the rate mentioned in sub-section (a) of section 15 in respect of goods declared to be of special importance in inter-State trade or commerce under section 14. It is well-established that a statutory provision should normally be interpreted in a manner which would make it valid and for that purpose the statutory provision even though appears to have a wider scope could be interpreted in a restricted sense so as to make it a valid provision. As a matter of fact, the Government recognised the difficulty in interpretation of the said two items in the light of the Central Sales Tax Act and had issued G.O. Ms. No. 4916, Revenue, dated 13th November, 1961, directing that skins should not be assessed under item 52 o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Schedule cannot be valid and effective in the face of the provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act. Therefore, it chose to delete that item by Madras Act 7 of 1965 with effect from 1st April, 1965. It is true, this amendment came subsequent to the assessment year in question and we have to understand the relative scope of the two items as it stood before the amendment. But as already stated, the court, while interpreting the two statutory provisions, has to assume that the Legislature intended the provision to be valid and workable. If we interpret item 52 of Schedule I as referring to all skins other than those of cattle, sheep and goats, we would be curtailing the scope of the words "hides and skins" found in item 7(a) of Schedule II. Thou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t escape the levy of tax under that item. The question whether item 52 of Schedule I will apply or not arises only when the assessee is charged on his first sales of reptile skins. It may be that at that stage he may succeed in establishing that the first sales of reptile skins cannot be taxed at all as reptile skins have been subjected to tax at the purchase point or that the sales have been effected in the course of export. We, therefore, feel that the Tribunal is right in not going into the question whether the sales of reptile skins by the assessee will come under item 52 of Schedule I but mainly confining itself to the question whether the purchase of reptile skins by the assessee will fall under item 7(a) of Schedule II. In our view t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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