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TMI Blog1981 (7) TMI 215X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... silk fabrics as defined in items Nos. 19, 21 and 22 respectively of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944." 4.. This Court in Ateesee (Agro-Industrial Trading Corporation) v. State of Kerala[1978] 41 S.T.C. 1. held: "The concept of 'cotton fabrics' in the Central Excises and Salt Act seems to be integrally linked with the provisions of the General Sales Tax Act, and we do not think that we would be justified in regarding the latter Act as unaffected by the growing concept of the term 'cotton fabrics' in the Central Excises and Salt Act. We feel too, that unless the extended definition of the Central Excises and Salt Act is imported into the Sales Tax Act, the latter Act would become unworkable and ineffectual." 5.. The relevant portion of item 19 in the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, is as follows: "19. Cotton fabrics- 'Cotton fabrics' means all varieties of fabrics manufactured either wholly or partly from cotton and includes dhoties, sarees, chadders, bed-sheets, bedspreads, counter-panes, table-cloths, embroidery in the piece, in strips or in motits and fabrics impregnated or coated with preparations of cellulose deriv ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... enumeration of the forms the thing defined (here, cotton fabrics) commonly assumes, by naming things that clearly come within the meaning given" which is one of the objects achieved by the device of an inclusive definition: see Krishnan Nair v. Sivaraman Nambudiri1967 K.L.T. 78 at 92 (F.B.). 7.. Under the substantial definition in item 19, "cotton fabrics' means "all varieties of fabrics manufactured either wholly or partly from cotton". One of the meanings given to the word "fabric" in Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary is: "texture", and "texture" means "anything woven". Of the several meanings given to that word in Concise Oxford Dictionary and Shorter Oxford Dictionary the following meanings are apposite here: "woven material, texture, textile". Therefore, all varieties of woven materials manufactured either wholly or partly from cotton except those that fall under the exclusion clause are as per the definition "cotton fabrics". The exclusion clause says that fabrics manufactured partly from cotton and partly from other materials (wool, silk, rayon or artificial silk or jute including Bimlipatam jute or mesta fibre) are not cotton fabrics if the percentage of the non-co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d then stitching up the two ends. Entry No. 19 did not specify that bed-sheets, bed-spreads, etc., whose ends have been stitched shall be excluded. As already stated, the said entry has specified that all varieties of cotton including dhoties, sarees, bed-sheets, bed-spreads, etc., would be included. Only when by such stitching the essential nature or character of cotton fabrics is altered or changed the particular article would be outside the ambit of the said entry No. 19. On the other hand, in case such cutting into shorter lengths and stitching of the two ends are accessory to and therefore part of the process of manufacturing such bed-sheets, bed-spreads, chadders, etc., cutting and stitching cannot result in putting the finished articles beyond the scope of entry No. 19. In my view, the materials on record do not indicate that, in the instant case, by executing works of cutting into shorter lengths and stitching the bed-spreads, bed-sheets, towels, etc., cease to be cotton fabrics. On the other hand, the same continued to be cotton fabrics in their natural and accepted meaning. Such cutting and stitching were really part of the process of manufacturing bed-spreads, bed-sheets ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e same is by its commercial or trade name included in the inclusive clause, but whether the cotton fabric retains its identity as such in the popular sense of that term even after artistic or embroidery work is done thereon. For, an ordinary woman wanting to buy a cotton embroidered or printed saree would normally require the dealer to show her cotton sarees or the cotton saree section, and then ask for the different varieties of cotton sarees, embroidered, printed and so on, and of such and such or so and so manufacturer. If the test to be applied is as contended for the revenue, a piece of cotton cloth, say malmal, cut in mundu-length would not be a cotton fabric for simply by cutting in that length and for that purpose it acquires the character of a different commercial commodity not mentioned in the inclusive portion of the definition, viz., a mundu, which no one in these parts would dare to say as anything but cotton fabric, thuni (*). 14.. It is not necessary to examine the other cases cited at the Bar, Shreeram Vastra Bhandar v. Sales Tax Officer[1980] 46 S.T.C. 107., Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Mohammed Abdul Khader[1980] 46 S.T.C. 512. and Radhika v. State of Ori ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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