9911796707
TMI Blog1981 (2) TMI 208X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... old by them to Philips India Ltd., made an application under section 52 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, for determination of this question by the sales tax authorities. Their application was in respect of the plastic grills sold by them under the invoices dated 9th September, 1968, and 4th May, 1968. On this application, the Commissioner of Sales Tax came to the conclusion that the plastic grills sold by the applicants were spare parts and accessories of transistor radios and that, therefore, they were covered by entry 65 in Schedule C to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, as then in force. The applicants had contended before the Commissioner of Sales Tax that the items sold by them were plastic goods which were covered by entry 19A in Sche ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nts and Twelve 1st September, 1967, apparatuses and radio gramophones, to 10th May, 1973. and electrical valves, batteries. transmitters, accumulators, amplifiers and loud-speakers required for use therewith and spare parts and accessories of such wireless instruments, apparatuses and radio gramophones. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The applicants claim that their plastic grills fall not under entry 65 in Schedule C but under entry 19A, clause (b), in Schedule E. Entry 19A in Schedule E, at the relevant time, was as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entry Description of goods Rate of sales tax Rate of g ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n accessory because it is not an essential component of a transistor radio. In other words, a transistor radio can function as a transistor radio without a grill. This cannot be the test for determining whether any part of a transistor radio is to be considered as its accessory or not. We have to examine a transistor radio as it is available in the market. What is sold is not merely the mechanism of a transistor radio but a transistor radio in a portable case which can be used by a customer safely and conveniently. Hence the case in which the instrument or apparatus of a transistor radio is fitted is as much a part of a transistor radio which is sold in the market as the instrument itself. In the present case, for example, a transistor radi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he asks for the mechanism as fitted in the transistor case. The case in which the transistor is fitted is as much an integral part of the transistor radio as the mechanism itself. The grill supplied by the applicants, after finishing processes are carried out on it, is fitted in the case and is a part of the case. Therefore, the grill, which is processed and fitted on to the transistor radio, is also as much a part of the transistor radio as the mechanism itself, and hence it will not be possible to consider the grill as an accessory. In the case of Rose Mary Carpentry Works v. State of Madras [1964] 15 S.T.C. 924., the Madras High Court was required to consider whether a radio cabinet could be considered as a component part of a radio. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ter it is processed can be better considered as a component of a transistor radio, rather than as an accessory. 7.. It was also submitted by the sales tax authorities that the grills in question are spare parts of a transistor radio. This contention also cannot be accepted. In the case of Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Amar Radio Cabinet Works[1968] 22 S.T.C. 63., the term "spare parts" was construed by the Bombay High Court as connoting a part which requires replacement in the ordinary course on account of wear and tear, and an extra item for use in an emergency. In that case, radio cabinets which were manufactured and sold by the assessees were held not to be spare parts within the meaning of entry 65 in Schedule C then in operation. In t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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