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TMI Blog1977 (1) TMI 140X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f cheese cubes or, as they are referred to on the record, chiplets, packed in aluminium foils and sold under the trade name "Amul". On 24th August, 1967, the respondents sold 40 packets of Amul cheese to Messrs. Empire Stores for a sum of Rs. 139.20. Each of the said 40 packets contained ten cheese cubes or chiplets, each weighing 25 grams, packed in aluminium foils. In their cash memo in respect of the cheese so supplied to Messrs. Empire Stores, the respondents added a sum of Rs. 6.96 for sales tax at the rate of 5 per cent and Rs. 4.80 for general sales tax at the rate of 3 per cent. Thus, according to the said cash memo, the respondents charged and collected from Messrs. Empire Stores sales tax and general sales tax on the basis that th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... his application was pending before the Commissioner of Sales Tax, the respondents, after obtaining information from the manufacturers, namely, the said Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union, by their letter dated 22nd November, 1967, inter alia, stated that the cheese cubes sold by the respondents were coated with heat sealed foils. According to the said letter, this was done in order to prevent contamination and further prevent air from coming in contact with the cheese and causing spoilage. There is no dispute that the ten cheese cubes or chiplets which were sold in cardboard cartons were packed in aluminium foils which were heat sealed, and normally in order to remove the aluminium foils the foils will have to be torn off. It ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Tribunal the Commissioner of Sales Tax applied to the Tribunal for stating the case to this High Court. This reference application was dismissed by the Tribunal on 28th November, 1969. Thereafter the applicant applied to this High Court for directing the Tribunal to state the case and refer to the High Court for its opinion the following question: "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of this case, the Tribunal was correct in law in holding that 'Amul processed cheese sold in packets' sold by the respondents under the cash memo dated 24th August, 1967, fell under entry 22 of Schedule E and not under entry 6 of that schedule attached to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959?" This application was admitted and a rule issued, and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r of Sales Tax and the Tribunal have also rejected the argument based on the fact that the heat sealing process by which the aluminium foils were sealed was not perfect, and in some cases, the aluminium foil could be removed without tearing it off. This argument too has not been urged before us. Thus, the sole question which remains to be decided is whether the tin foils in which these cheese cubes are packed or with which the cheese cubes are coated can be said to be a container. If it is a container, then by reason of the fact that it is heat sealed, it would be a sealed container, and the goods would be taxable under the said entry 6. If it is not a container, then there is no dispute that the goods would be taxable under the said entry ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e container should have a form, shape or a separate identity. According to Mr. Cooper, though these aluminium foils, when in the form of sheets, were not containers, once they were cut and coated on the cheese cubes or the cheese cubes packed in them, they would become containers. According to Mr. Cooper, whenever one thing contained another, that thing was a container. We are not able to accept the broad meaning of the word "container", which Mr. Cooper has urged before us. In our view, the word "container" used in the said entry 6 refers to an article which is meant or intended for keeping some goods in it. It is not intended to refer to a piece of paper or a piece of cloth or a tin, aluminium or silver foil with which another article can ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pers and a few odds and ends)", and the ordinary sense in which these words are understood show that a container is a receptacle of a defined shape or flexible in form for putting other things into it. It must be something which is recognised and is recognisable as a container. Nobody looking at a piece of paper or a piece of cloth or a sheet of aluminium or tin or silver foil would ever think of them as containers. A container must be an independent unit or a separate entity by itself. It must be such before some other goods are put in it. It cannot become a container after some other goods are put in it. So far as the aluminium foils with which we are dealing with in this reference are concerned, it is not disputed that unless and until i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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