1974 (2) TMI 60

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... ommon question of law. The assessee is a dealer in cement, white cement, refractory cement, etc. The turnover of all varieties of cement was assessed at 7 per cent. The assessee appealed and contended that white cement and refractory cement were not the same thing as ordinary cement and should have been assessed as unclassified items and not at the rate of 7 per cent which is applicable to ord .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... se per rupee at the point of sale by the manufacturer, if it is manufactured in U.P. or at the point of sale by the importer, if it is imported from outside U.P. Under entry 46 also the rate is 7 paise per rupee. It deals with cement sold by stockists appointed by the State Trading Corporation of India or stockists appointed by the Government Cement Factory, Churk, Mirzapur. So this entry 46 is no .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... colour. In that booklet it is also mentioned that white cement can be used for the same purpose as the ordinary grey cement. In Commissioner of Sales Tax, M.P. v. Jaswant Singh Charan Singh[1967] 19 S.T.C. 469 (S.C.)., a question arose before the Supreme Court as to whether the word "coal" includes charcoal. It was argued before the Supreme Court that while coal is a mineral product, charcoal i .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... it as fuel would give to that word. A sales tax statute, being one levying a tax on goods, must, in the absence of a technical term or a term of science or art, be presumed to have used an ordinary term as coal according to the meaning ascribed to it in common parlance. Viewed from that angle both a merchant dealing in coal and a consumer wanting to purchase it would regard coal not in its geologi .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... t) Act, 1973, the entry "white cement" has specifically been included in the cement. This does not show that white cement was not covered by that entry. The Government has clarified the position which was previously implicit, may be because of the contrary view taken by the sales tax authorities. We accordingly answer the question in the affirmative in favour of the department and against the as .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X