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TMI Blog1974 (2) TMI 72X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tural and corporate life; ...... (n) to do all such things as may be necessary, incidental or conducive to the attainment of all or any of the objects of the Institute." Under the statutes framed in exercise of the powers conferred by section 26 of the Act, the petitioner is a residential institution, and all students, research scholars and research fellows have to reside in the halls of residence and hostels built by the Institute. In pursuance of its objects the petitioner has constructed several hostels, one of them being the visitors' hostel. The petitioner, in furtherance of its objects, holds from time to time conferences and seminars and, in that connection, invites eminent technologists and academicians for lectures. These activities of the petitioner constitute inseparable components of its academic life. According to the petitioner, the said visitors' hostel was constructed in order to provide lodging and boarding facilities to the persons who came to the petitioner-Institute in connection with the educational and academic activities of the petitioner. The hostel was made to provide temporary accommodation to research scholars, research fellows and students and teac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... from making any assessment of sales tax on the petitioner and taking any proceedings pursuant to the notices and the letter dated 14th March, 1973, referred to above. A writ of certiorari was also prayed for to be issued quashing the notices and the letter aforesaid. During the pendency of the writ petition an order of assessment was, however, passed for the year 1968-69. Annexure G to the writ petition is a copy of the aforesaid order, whereby sales tax in the sum of Rs. 1,200 was levied on the petitioner. The writ petition has subsequently been amended, and a prayer to quash the aforesaid order of assessment has been added. The case of the petitioner, as set out in the writ petition, is that the fee charged from those who reside in the visitors' hostel is not the actual price of the food consumed by them and the principle of charging the fee is the same as in the case of other hostels where students reside, and that a fixed fee is charged for tea, breakfast, lunch and dinner and the same has no relation to the actual consumption and the charges paid by the residents have really a very remote relation to the actual value of the foodstuffs consumed by them. According to the p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d to visit the Institute in connection with the activities of the said department, and their visits were connected with the activities of the department and for the objects of the Institute. In reply to paragraph 13 of the counter-affidavit it has been stated that foodstuffs are not sold by the petitioner but charges are made on different items, like tea, breakfast, lunch and dinner. It has been denied that the said facility is open to all and sundry. It is claimed that the said facility is open to the inmates of the hostel, who reside therein with the permission of the Director and such other persons who visit the Institute for purposes connected with the objects of the Institute. It is averred that in exceptional cases, which will be hardly one or two in the whole year, the Director permits relations or other persons connected with the Institute to reside in the hostel or to order dinner, etc., on fixed charges. The petitioner has also filed copy of one such bill as is issued to those who come and stay in the hostel, as annexure H to the writ petition, in support of its contention that no foodstuffs are sold by the petitioner but a fixed fee is charged for tea, breakfast, lunch ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nctive purpose and object of education would make it very difficult to assimilate it to the position of any trade, business or calling or service within the meaning of section 2(j) of the Industrial Disputes Act, and that education seeks to build up the personality of the pupil by assisting his physical, intellectual, moral and emotional development. To speak of this educational process in terms of industry sounds incongruous. While repelling the argument that the university was an industry inasmuch as it employs subordinate staff and its subordinate staff does the work assigned to it, it was held that in the main scheme of education the subordinate staff plays such a minor, subordinate and insignificant part that it would be unreasonable to allow this work to lend its industrial colour to the principal activity of the university, which is imparting education. The work of promoting education is carried on by the university and its teachers, and if the teachers are excluded from the purview of the Act, it would be unreasonable to regard the work of imparting education as industry only because its minor, subsidiary and incidental work may seem to partake of the character of service w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... meaning of the Industrial Disputes Act. In that connection, it was held that if a hospital, nursing home or dispensary is run as a business in a commercial way, there may be found elements of an industry there, but hospitals run by Government and even by private associations, not on commercial lines but on charitable lines or as part of the functions of Government Department of Health cannot be included in the definition of "industry". In Swadeshi Cotton Mills Co. Ltd. v. Sales Tax Officer [1964] 15 S.T.C. 505; A.I.R. 1965 All. 86., it was urged for the Sales Tax Officer that the Aligarh Muslim University was a "dealer" within the meaning of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, inasmuch as it maintained dining halls, wherein it served food and refreshments to its resident-students. The argument was repelled, and it was held that in maintaining dining halls the Aligarh Muslim University is not engaged in any commercial activity. The university is an educational institution. Its activities are predominantly academic. It is not engaged in business according to the usual sense of the term. Supply of food to students in dining halls is incidental to the general academic activity of the university. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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