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TMI Blog1977 (1) TMI 130X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 10 of Schedule A, as in force at the relevant time, was as follows: 10. Cereals and pulses in all forms and flour Except when sold in sealed conincluding atta, maida, began, suji and tainers." bran prepared therefrom, but excluding maize flour. The Commissioner of Sales Tax by his order dated 16th April, 1968, held that: "It could be said that maida flour would be a form of cereal for the purpose of entry 10 of Schedule A to the Act. It would, however, not be correct to hold that each and every preparation made out of maida flour would continue to be covered by the scope of the said entry............ The process which the applicants (that is, the respondents) conduct on maida flour results into a commercially different article and such article cannot be classified as cereals in a particular form only because shevaya are prepared from maida flour." Before the Commissioner of Sales Tax no attempt was made by the respondents to support their alternative case that if shevaya sold by the respondents did not fall under the said entry 10, it would fall under the said entry 5, which exempts bread in loaf or rolls or in slices, toasted or otherwise, from all taxes under the said A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nseparated or in whole grains or broken grains, and to different kinds or varieties of cereals and pulses. In support of his first argument based upon the legislative history of the said entry 10, Mr. Cooper drew our attention to the said entry 10 and to entry 21 of Schedule A to the said Act, both as originally enacted. When the Act was first passed, the said entry 10 provided as follows: "10. Cereals and pulses In all forms. Except when sold in sealed containers" The said entry 21 provided as follows: "21. Flour including atta, maida, Except when sold In sealed containers." besan, suji and bran. Relying upon these two entries, Mr. Cooper submitted that the legislature, when it enacted the said Act, deliberately excluded flour from the category of "cereals and pulses in all forms" even if we were to give that expression the Interpretation placed upon it by the Tribunal. It may be mentioned that by Maharashtra Act No. 21 of 1962 entry 21 was deleted and the words "and flour including atta, maida, besan, suji and bran prepared therefrom but excluding maize flour" were inserted in the said entry 10 after the words "in all forms". Relying upon this amendment, Mr. Cooper furthe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ained in Schedule A. The entries in that schedule, which are relevant for our purposes, are entries 7 and 20. The said entries were as follows: "7. Cereals and pulses in all forms. Except when sold in sealed containers. 20. Flour including atta, maida, Except when sold in sealed containers." suji and bran. Thus, while the said entry 20 remained the same as the said entry 2 of Schedule II to the 1946 Act, the said entry 7 underwent a radical and significant change from what was exempted by the said entry 1 of Schedule II to the 1946 Act. While what was exempted under the 1946 Act were all cereals and pulses including all forms of rice, what was exempted under the said entry 7 were cereals and pulses in all forms. Since the exemption given in the 1953 Act was much wider than the one given in the 1946 Act, and as rice being a cereal, all forms of rice would be included in the expression "cereals in all forms", the words "including all forms of rice" were omitted. When the 1953 Act was replaced by the present Act, namely, the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, the position under the 1953 Act was continued by entries 10 and 21 of Schedule A to the 1959 Act, as originally enacted. The quest ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n all forms and flour ..... we find that there is not much substance in this submission. It is true that the legislature could have used the word "including" instead of the word "and", but the legislature has, in our opinion, designedly used the words "and flour ". The reason for this, according to us, is that immediately after the word "flour", the word which occurs is "including", and if the word "including" were used instead of the word "and", the entry would have read "cereals and pulses in all forms including flour including atta, etc." Though taxing statutes are not expected to be models of style or syntax, this would have been too much of a solecism even for a taxing statute. By using the word "and" instead of the word "including", the legislature did not intend to provide that flour was not a cereal or pulse in a particular form. In our opinion, the legislature used the word "and" and not the word "including" because the two entries were being conjoined with the exclusion of flour made otherwise than from cereals or pulses and because the different preparations of flour were being specified by the addition of the words "including atta, maida, besan, suji and bran prepared t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to include 'all forms of rice'." Dealing with the expression "all forms of rice", the Delhi High Court observed as follows: "The learned counsel for the revenue contended that 'all forms of rice' would cover all varieties of rice, superior, inferior and others and broken rice and other short varieties of rice. But then the language used would have been 'all varieties and sizes of rice'. 'Form' of rice is different from its varieties or sizes. Dictionary meaning of the word 'form' includes shape or mode of being of an object. The expression 'all forms of rice' would thus embrace within its fold, rice in all its forms, as distinguished from its mere varieties or sizes. It would Include rice in various shapes and conditions as for example rice in its raw form, fried form, or parched form. Different varieties of rice and different sizes of rice may be covered by the word 'rice' itself. But here the exemption is given to 'all forms of rice'. So rice in all its forms, even in the form of 'murmura', would be included in the exemption." A similar phrase came up for consideration before the Supreme Court in State of Gujarat v. Sakarwala Brothers[1967] 19 S.T.C. 24 (S.C.). The question ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat what should be taxed or exempted from tax would be all kinds or all varieties of a particular article or product, it has used these very words and not the words "all forms". For instance, entry 39(b) of Schedule C speaks of "all kinds of paints". It also speaks of "all kinds of vehicles, diluents and thinners". The first part of entry 24 of Schedule C levies tax on certain kinds of paper specified in that entry, such as art paper, lustra cote art paper, etc., and the second part of that entry levies a tax on "paper of all other kinds". Entry 7A of Schedule E speaks of all kinds of stoves, pressure lamps, incandescent lanterns and lamps and cookers. Entry 15 of Schedule E, inter alia, speaks of fluorescent tubes of all varieties. Entry 16 of the same schedule speaks of handloom fabrics of all varieties. It may also be pointed out that by making shevaya or vermicelli out of maida, the chemical composition does not in any manner change. We have set out above the mode of preparation of shevaya or vermicelli. It is merely maida which is mixed with water and then passed through a sieve so that it comes out in slender threads which are then dried up. Thus, while maida is a form of pow ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... drafted so as to add to the items enumerated after the phrase "that Is to say". It was contended by the assessee-respondent that when the said clause of section 14 uses the words "iron and steel", what was Intended to be included were all goods made of iron and steel. The Supreme Court held that in the context of single point sales tax, subject to special conditions when imposed on separate categories of specified goods, the expression "that is to say" was apparently meant to exhaustively enumerate the kinds of goods in a given list and that each such kind or kinds would constitute a separate class for a series of sales, the expression "that is to say" being employed to make clear and fix the meaning of what was to be explained or defined and. not used, as a rule, to amplify a meaning while removing a possible doubt for which purpose the word "includes" was generally used. Before the Supreme Court, reliance was placed on behalf of the respondent upon an earlier decision of the Supreme Court in State of Madhya Bharat (now the State of Madhya Pradesh) v. Hiralal[1966] 17 S.T.C. 313 at 315 (S.C.). In that case, the respondent purchased scrap iron locally and imported iron plates from ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d entry 10 of Schedule A would be the first part of the definition given in the Webster's Dictionary, which we have reproduced above and not the second part. Mr. Cooper was unable to throw any light why this should be done, except to say that this word, namely, "cereal" occurred In a Sales Tax Act. The dictionary meaning clearly shows that so far as the ordinary use of the word "cereal" is concerned, it applies not only to the plant yielding farinaceous seeds suitable for food but also to the seeds or grain so produced either In their original state or commercially prepared. The further meaning of the word "cereal" as given in that dictionary is "a prepared foodstuff of grain (as oatmeal or corn flakes) used esp. as a breakfast food". We see no reason why the popular sense in which a word is commonly used should be restricted for the purposes of the Sales Tax Acts, particularly when the expression used in the said entry 10 would show that what was intended to be exempted was not merely all cereals and pulses but cereals and pulses in all forms. In this connection, we would like to refer to the decision of a Division Bench of this High Court, which throws light on how an entry such ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hase maida. We are equally unable to accept this submission. Factually it is undoubtedly true that if you go to a shopkeeper and ask him to sell you a particular quantity of maida, he would not give you shevaya, but that, in our opinion, is not relevant for the purposes of the interpretation to be placed upon the words used in the said entry 10. It is not the name by which a particular form of cereal or pulse is known which is relevant. Here the question is not whether shevaya is a commercially different commodity. Here the question is of the exemption of the particular materials or produce from taxation. As an analogy we may point out that if a person were to go to a shop and ask for sugar, nobody would give him patasa, harda and alchidana, nor if he goes to purchase rice, would the shopkeeper give him chira or muri nor if he goes and asks for meat, would the shopkeeper supply him with dressed poultry. The question is not what a particular form of cereal or pulse is called. The question is whether it is a form of cereal or pulse. That maida is a form of cereal has been held by the Commissioner of Sales Tax himself in his said order dated 16th April, 1968. The Tribunal has agreed w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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