9911796707
TMI Blog1979 (12) TMI 139X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Act relates to tax-free goods and provides for exemption of sales tax on goods specified in the second column of Schedule I, subject to the conditions and exceptions set out in the corresponding entry in the third column thereof. We are concerned in the present case with entry 6 in Schedule I to the Act, which at the relevant time read as under: "All varieties of cloth manufactured in mills or on power-looms or handlooms including processed cloth but excluding silk fabrics, articles made thereof and hessian cloth." 2.. The only question involved in this petition is whether stitched pillow covers of the Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Co. Ltd. sold by the petitionerfirm as its sole distributor fell within the ambit of the above-quoted ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... actured in mills..." occurring in the aforesaid entry 6 on account of which they are exempt from payment of sales tax by virtue of section 10 of the Act. The short question, therefore, is whether stitched pillow covers can be treated as "cloth manufactured in mills" which are the only relevant words in entry 6 for our purpose. 5.. There is no dispute that the cloth out of which the pillow covers are made and stitched is manufactured in mills. The question really is whether cloth manufactured in mills after being cut into appropriate sizes and then stitched as pillow covers, continues to retain its initial identity as cloth manufactured in mills or it gets converted into a different article so as to lose that identity. The answer to this q ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... terpanes" may now be seen. 7.. Several dictionaries were referred to us at the hearing and none of them, except Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (reprinted 1979), gives any assistance to the petitioner's contention. In Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary, the meaning of counterpane given is "a coverlet for a bed". However, further, in that meaning, after mentioning "counterpoint" is stated "a stitched pillow". Shri Chaphekar relies on this definition of counterpane in the Chambers's Dictionary and this is obviously the only thing which may be taken to support the petitioner's contention. It is of significance that the dictionary meaning of the word "counterpane" given even in the Chambers's Dictionary is "a coverlet for a bed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s Co. Ltd. v. Sales Tax Officer[1962] 13 S.T.C. 1031., wherein the meaning of "cloth" was considered in the context of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948. In that decision, while deciding the point which arose for decision therein, it was observed as under: "Further, it is the usual thing for bed-sheets, pillow cases, bed covering and wrapping to be described as 'household linen' or 'bed linen'. 'Linen' only means cloth. It follows that so far as chadars and towels are concerned, they are also merely 'cloth'." Shri Chaphekar relies on these observations to contend that pillow cases were treated in the same category as bed-sheets and bed covers described as "bed linen" and bed linen means cloth. It is sufficient to say that the point for decis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... contention. 11.. A Division Bench of the Orissa High Court in Radhika v. State of Orissa [1977] 39 S.T.C. 93. expressly held that where pillow covers were made by cutting mill-made cloth into different sizes and stitching and making them ready for use in a particular way and the operation was neither incidental nor ancillary to the process of manufacture, pillow covers would not be covered by the relevant entry relating to exempted goods and sales of pillow covers, therefore, would be liable to sales tax. The relevant entry in that case was substantially similar to the abovequoted entry 6, with which we are concerned and, therefore, that decision is a direct authority negativing the petitioner's contention. The test that the cutting of mi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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