9911796707
TMI Blog1983 (7) TMI 290X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Nagercoil (Rural Circle) while verifying the records of the Forest Department of Nagercoil and Keeriparai found that the assessees had purchased 40,000 kgs. of raw rubber, viz., latex, in the auction held on 2nd August, 1974, for Rs. 4,21,020 for 1974-75, Rs. 2,86,242 for 1975-76 and Rs. 1,69,632 for 1976-77. The Deputy Commercial Tax Officer assessed the petitioners on the abovesaid purchase turnovers and levied the sales tax at 5 per cent and also a penalty. Aggrieved against the assessment, the assessees went on appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, Tirunelveli, without success. Thereafter the assessee filed M.T.A. No. 442 of 1976 and 736 and 737 of 1979 before the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal (Additional Bench) Madurai. In M.T.A. No. 442 of 1976 the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal (Additional Bench), Madurai, passed an order dated 30th July, 1977, dismissing the appeal and holding that the goods purchased by the assessee, viz., RMA rubber sheets fall under entry No. 74 of the First Schedule and are exigible to 5 per cent sales tax at the purchase point and thus sustained the order of assessment and the consequential levy of pen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ons in Sales Tax Cases (Volume 34) at page 85 reads thus: "In the First Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, in item 74, in column (2), for the word 'Rubber' the words 'Raw Rubber, namely, latex' shall be substituted." Thus from the general term, 'rubber', the material that was sought to be assessed to sales tax at the first purchaser point has been restricted to "Raw rubber, viz., latex", as the word rubber is wide enough to include any material of rubber. All categories of rubber were assessed to sales tax prior to 19th June, 1974. The period of assessment covered by these three cases on hand will be governed by the substituted item 74 of Act 37 of 1974, namely, "Raw rubber, viz., latex", since the next amendment with reference to item No. 74 of the First Schedule was introduced by Act 23 of 1982 with effect from 11th November, 1981. By section 4(g) of Act 23 of 1982, the item No. 74 of the First Schedule of Act 37 of 1974, as amended and substituted, is as follows: "74. (a) Natural rubber latex (b) All varieties and grades of raw rubber (if they had not suffered tax under this Act)." Clause (g) of section 4 of Act 23 of 1982 shall be deemed to have c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in litre quantity basis, whereas RMA rubber sheets and other grades of rubber sheets are sold only in kilogram weighment basis. At page 118 of the typed set the extract of pages 44 to 57 from Rubber Growers' Companion, published by the Rubber Board, India, 1974, dealing with processing of the crop from rubber plantations for marketing has been given. It is mentioned therein that the crop from the rubber tree is latex, a milky liquid, is harvested by the process of tapping, that generally the latex that flows out from the rubber trees on tapping is channelled into coconut shell cups attached to them, which in turn is collected (the latex) in clean buckets 2 to 3 hours after tapping, that the latex and the different kinds of scrap are highly susceptible to degradation due to contamination on keeping and therefore, it is essential to process them into a form that will allow easy storage and marketing without degradation. Then the booklet deals with important forms in which the crop from rubber plantations can be marketed. They are (1) preserved latex and latex concentrates (2) dry ribbed sheet rubber (3) dry crepe rubbers and (4) dry solid block rubbers. After mentioning the above i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ke sheets, in Part II of the Type Descriptions and Packing Specifications at page 105 of the typed set, it is mentioned in clause (a) as "All ribbed smoked sheets shall be packed in rubber covered bales" and under clause (d) that for smoked sheets the outside of the bales shall be lightly dusted with talc before applying the wrapper sheets to prevent sticking, which cannot be adopted on the raw or natural latex which is milky liquid. In the extract from Rubber Growers' Companion, as seen at page 122 of the typed set, the process for preserving the field latex has been given. It is stated that the preserved field latex can be marketed as latex upto 35 per cent dry rubber content, that the processing of field latex consists essentially of adding the preservative to the latex, bulking, settling and blending into consignments of suitable size for despatch and that after settling and removal of the sediments in the bulking tank, it is gently mixed and after testing the preservative content, the latex is packed, preserved and marketed in two concentrates, that is, latex between 36 and 50 per cent d.r.c. and latex between 51 and 60 per cent d.r.c. At page 124 of the typed set relating t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... itself has treated grade rubber sheets as different from wet latex while selling the same in auction. If the State Government itself has treated latex as a different commodity from the graded sheet for the purpose of sale, the same treatment has to be adopted with reference to the purchase made by the assessee from the same rubber plantation and hence the two commodities cannot be treated as identical goods. In several other correspondence and invoices also, RMA graded rubber goods (sic). With reference to natural rubber it is packed in drums and the rate is on weighment or on quantitative measurement basis. At page 34 of the typed set relating to documents, we find the letter of the new Ambadi Estates Private Limited, Kulasekaram in Kanyakumari District. In the said letter an order has been passed for 320 drums of rubber latex 60 per cent D.R.C. with a schedule of supply. At page 39, we find the letter of the Rubber Research Institute of India in which it is stated that the natural rubber sheets are graded by visual comparison methods as per the norms prescribed by the Rubber Manufacturers' Association, Newyork, which has the abbreviated name RMA, and that latex is definitely dif ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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