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TMI Blog1984 (11) TMI 313X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... realising better price, does not amount to 'manufacture' within the meaning of section 2(17) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959? (b) Whether the Tribunal was correct in law in holding that the activity of the respondents in feeding the one day old chicks and rearing them with a view to obtain eggs, does not amount to 'manufacture' within the meaning of section 2(17) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959?" 2.. The facts giving rise to the reference are as follows: The respondents conduct a poultry farm. The activities of the respondents inter alia comprise buying one day old chicks and rearing them into broilers or layers and rearing hens with a view to obtain eggs and selling broilers or layers and eggs laid by the layers and collected ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 17) of the said Act. It is the correctness of this decision which is sought to be tested before us by way of questions referred to hereinabove. 3.. The term "manufacture" is defined in sub-section (17) of section 2 of the said Act. The said sub-section states: "'manufacture', with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means producing, making, extracting, altering, ornamenting, finishing or otherwise processing, treating, or adapting any goods; but does not include such manufactures or manufacturing processes as may be prescribed." We are not concerned with any manufacture or manufacturing process which has been specifically excluded, because there was no argument to the effect that the activities carried on by the re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ultry farm to keep the chicks in good health and to feed them properly, so that they would turn into broilers. Mr. Thakor drew our attention to some meanings given to the term "adapt" in some dictionaries. In this connection, we may point out that the definition of the word "adapt" in Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary (Sixth Reprint 1981, page 13) and the Concise Oxford Dictionary (reprinted in India with corrections 1972, page 15) show that the said word means "to make a thing suitable for a purpose" or "to modify or to alter it for a purpose". One can be said to alter an article when he does anything to change character of that article. By the phrase "treating an article " is clearly meant applying something in the nature of a "proces ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Manufacturing Co. [1975] 35 STC 493. In that case, the respondents purchased coffee seeds, roasted them, ground them and prepared coffee powder out of the seeds. The respondents also purchased readymade chicory powder and thereafter mixed and blended the coffee powder prepared by them with the chicory powder purchased by them and produced the mixture "French Coffee". The Tribunal found that French Coffee in its characterstic was different from pure coffee powder, that the coffee powder when mixed with chicory powder might change in colour and odour and that what was produced was a new mixture in which some of the original components might have been merged. It was held by the Division Bench that the mixing and blending of coffee powder with ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (17), fall within the definition, yet they cannot be regarded as manufacture if they do not result in bringing about a different and new commercial commodity. It is impossible to read this decision as laying down that whenever any activity results in coming into existence of a new commercial commodity, that activity must amount to manufacture within the meaning of the said expression in sub-section (17) of section 2. A plain reading of the judgment makes it clear that this argument was not canvassed before the Division Bench at all nor has the Division Bench considered the same. Looking to the language of section 2(17), it is clear that notwithstanding that the result of an activity might be the coming into existence of a new commercial pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e said to have produced that egg. The question which really falls for consideration is whether for the purposes of section 2(17) of the said Act, the man who keeps hens can be said to have produced the eggs laid by the hens. In this connection, we cannot lose sight of the fact that it is in the nature of a laying hen that it will lay eggs. The eggs are laid by a biological and natural process. It cannot thus be said that the keeper of a laying hen is the manufacturer of the eggs laid by the hen. It was urged by Mr. Thakor that if a person employs workmen in order to produce certain commodities or goods, he can certainly be regarded as a producer or a manufacturer of those goods although physically the goods might have been produced by the w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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