9911796707
TMI Blog1987 (9) TMI 401X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ional Sales Tax Tribunal, was justified in holding that dal does not come within the ambit of the expression "all forms of gram" and is therefore not subject to purchase tax with effect from 1st October, 1974 and is subject to sales tax from the said date? 2.. The facts: For the assessment year 1975-76, the assessing officer, while making the assessment under section 12(4) of the Act, imposed sales tax on the transactions of different kinds of dal made by the dealer and raised an additional demand of Rs. 5,437 on the ground that dal was a different item than gram and could not be included in any form of gram, a notified commodity. The dealer, however, challenged this imposition on the ground that dal, being one of the forms of gram and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ll forms of gram and not all varieties of gram, then obviously, it intended to include the various species and some of its by-products as well. Some of the decisions which I may presently refer to also support this view that unless gram was reduced into an entirely different species, such as, besan or shattu, it continued to remain as a broken form of gram itself. Now let us proceed to consider some of the cases. Reliance was placed by the dealer at the reference stage on the unreported decision of this Court in S.J.C. No. 15 of 1976 dated 16th July, 1980 (State of Orissa v. Baijnath Flour Mills) where it was laid down that: "Dals made out of grams were not to be considered as a different commodity but as one of the forms of gram." ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g similarly purchased grams had sold them after breaking them into pieces (dana). On a reference made to this Court at the instance of the Revenue, relying upon the decision in Ram Chandra Badrinarayan's case [1974] 33 STC 83 (Orissa) the reference was answered against the Revenue. 6.. In the meantime, a Bench of this Court in the case of State of Orissa v. Haji Ebrahim Haji Jamal Noor Mohammed Co. [1975] 35 STC 275, had occasion to consider an almost similar question. The dealer after purchasing grams on furnishing the declaration converted them into dal and sold as such. On a similar question being raised as to whether the proviso to section 5(2)(A)(a)(ii) of the Act was attracted, it was held by the Bench that: "In common parlance an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... above observation was noticed by this Court in the unreported decision in Baijnath Flour Mills' case (S.J.C. No. 15 of 1976 dated 16th July, 1980) and the earlier view in [1974] 33 STC 83 (Orissa) (Ram Chandra Badrinarayan v. State of Orissa) was reiterated. The Supreme Court case was distinguished on the ground that the case of paddy and rice was entirely different as "there would be hardly any identity except that one was contained within the other before conversion. The two commodities meet different needs of the people. But in the case of a gram and a dana, the position was different as 'whether it was in the original form as the whole gram or it was in broken form of 2 to 3 pieces, i.e., dana, did not really bring into existence any ne ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... noted that their nature of user in many ways is also similar. The decision in [1974] 33 STC 83 (Orissa) (Ram Chandra Badrinarayan v. State of Orissa) was again referred to by a Full Bench of this Court in the case of State of Orissa v. Bharat Saw Mill [1980] 46 STC 389 with approval. 10.. On a circumspection of all the facts and circumstances as well as the authorities discussed above, I have no doubt in my mind to reach the conclusion that the decision of this Court in the case of Ram Chandra Badrinarayan v. State of Orissa [1974] 33 STC 83 is still a good law holding the field. Once I come to this conclusion, the answer to both the questions must be given in favour of the dealer and against the department. The dealer therefore did no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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