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TMI Blog1986 (4) TMI 334X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion 6(3) of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1959, read with section 15 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956?" 2.. This reference has been made in view of the conflicting decisions of the various High Courts in the country as to whether dry coconut which is commonly known as "gari gola" is an oil-seed within the meaning of the expression used in clause (vi) of section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. 3.. From the statement of case the relevant facts which appear are briefly as follows. M/s. Ekbal Ram Laxman Prasad is a registered dealer carrying on business in the town of Arrah. For the financial year 1967-68 it submitted a gross turnover for Rs. 20,27,978.82. The Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Shahabad Circle, by his order d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1 STC 41 (Mad.), some High Courts have taken the view that copra was not an oil-seed in the cases of (1) Kasturi Seshagiri Pai Co. v. Deputy Commissioner of South Kanara [1961] 12 STC 629 (Mys), (2) K.T. Kumaran Co. v. Secretary, Malabar Market Committee [1964] 15 STC 634 (Ker) and (3) Sales Tax Officer, Kozhikode v. K.V. Moosa Koya [1966] 18 STC 464 (Ker) the High Courts have taken a contrary view and have held that copra was an oil-seed within the meaning of section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act and, therefore, liable to lesser rate of sales tax. 6.. Before we proceed to discuss the matter further, we may state the legislative amendment of section 14 by Act 61 of 1972. Prior to the amendment by the Central Act section 14 was very ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... efore the amendment, extracted hereinbefore, we are inclined to take a view that "copra", i.e., dry coconut, was an oil-seed and thus being covered within the purview of that definition, it was assessable to sales tax at 3 per cent only. We need not venture upon to give our reasons as we adopt the reasons given in the three decisions of the different High Courts and, to shorten the matter, will simply content ourselves by falling in line with the reasons given by the learned Judges in those cases. 9.. The result of the above discussions is that the answer to be given is that "copra" is an oil-seed within the meaning of section 14(vi) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, and, therefore, taxable at 3 per cent only under section 6(3) of the B ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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