9911796707
TMI Blog1984 (4) TMI 261X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of cooked food sold by the petitioners are not so exempt, it is complained. The scheme of exemption in item 12 is attacked as violative of the petitioners' fundamental rights under articles 14 and 19(1)(g). It is also their case that the policy of the State is to exempt cooked food from tax so as to make them available at cheap rates to the consumers, and that item 12 falls short of this policy. The Bakery Owners' Association has requested the Government to amend the law, and the Government is bound to do so in the interests of equality and fairness, it is asserted. 2.. Section 9 of the Act reads: "Exemption from tax.-Subject to such restrictions and conditions as may be prescribed, a dealer who deals in the goods specified in the Third ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r assumption in view of the decision of the Supreme Court in Annapurna Biscuit Manufacturing Co. v. Commissioner of Sales Tax [1981] 48 STC 254 (SC). The question there was whether biscuits could be treated as cooked food for the purpose of a notification issued under the U.P. Sales Tax Act, and their Lordships said: "It may be that biscuit is served at tea time and in its wider meaning 'cooked food' may include biscuit. But ordinarily biscuit is not understood as cooked food. If a person goes to a hotel or restaurant and ask for some cooked food or pakaya hua bhojan certainly he will not be served with biscuits in Uttar Pradesh. While it is not necessary to state in the present case as to what all items may be called as cooked food, we c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... umption at home or elsewhere, they will have to pay tax even if they get their supplies from a hotel or a restaurant. In the case of undertaking marriage parties also, there is no distinction under item 12 between a bakery owner and another. If the supply at the marriage party amounts to "serving", the exemption is available to everyone who does so . 6.. Counsel would submit that even in the case of out and out sale, as distinct from service, owners of restaurants and hotels are not charging tax and are thus able to undercut bakery owners. That is a matter pertaining to the enforcement of the law, and not to its validity. May be, even bakery owners are sometimes able to evade the law. 7.. That there is no policy of exempting all food pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mpt sales of cooked food under certain conditions. If there is any larger policy for the State, and if the item in the Schedule has failed to give full effect to such policy, that is not a matter for the courts to rectify. After all, the Schedule is part of the statute and the entries therein are not the result of exercise of delegated legislative power. We are concerned only with the policy of the legislature as reflected in the statute, and not with anything else. We cannot direct the legislature to amend the Schedule as the association wants. 10.. Items in the Third Schedule are exempted from tax under section 9 subject to such restrictions and conditions as may be "prescribed". "Prescribed" means prescribed by Rules made under the Act ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
