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TMI Blog1989 (11) TMI 290X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r section 21 of the Act and held that the classification was wrong and treated the oxygen as falling within entry 121 of the Second Schedule to the Act. This order of the Deputy Commissioner was affirmed by the Karnataka Appellate Tribunal. Hence these revision petitions. The short question for consideration is, whether the oxygen called "medicinal oxygen" falls within entry 121 of the Second Schedule? The said entry reads as follows: "Industrial gas, such as oxygen, Thirteen per cent." acetylene, nitrogen and the like. According to Sri S.G. Sundaraswamy, the learned counsel for the petitioner, this entry will have to be confined to the gases which are used for industrial purposes and, therefore, considered generally as industrial gases ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... estion was whether G.I. pipes fall within the description of "water supply and sanitary fittings". The principle of construction of these words was stated by the Supreme Court at page 61 of STC (612 of AIR): "..........Now there is one cardinal rule of interpretation which has always to be borne in mind while interpreting entries in sales tax legislation and it is that the words used in the entries must be construed not in any technical sense nor from the scientific point of view but as understood in common parlance. We must give the words used by the Legislature their popular sense meaning 'that sense which people conversant with the subject-matter with which the statute is dealing would attribute to it'." Gold articles are distinct from ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and they do not include heavy pipes which are laid underground as mains for carrying water supply from one area or place to another. Therefore, even for the purpose of determining whether G.I. pipes sold by the assessee are 'water supply.........fittings', it would have to be found as to what is the purpose for which they were meant to be used......" To the same effect is the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Asian Paints India Ltd. v. Collector of Central Excise [1988] 70 STC 38; AIR 1988 SC 1087, wherein the conclusion of the Supreme Court was (at page 41 of STC; 1089 of AIR): "Therefore, in view of the composition, characteristics, user and how it is known in the trade, the Tribunal came to the conclusion that decoplast was plasti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erence to the subsequent words. All the words used are to be construed together and the context of each word should not be ignored. "Industrial gas such as oxygen...." can only mean, in the context of an oxygen, only that oxygen which is accepted in the trade as an industrial gas; if so, the oxygen referred in entry 121 can only be that oxygen, described in common parlance as "industrial oxygen". The Tribunal is not right in holding that, because, the Act nowhere refers to "medicinal oxygen", it would be covered by the general word "oxygen" in entry 121. This is an assumption unwarranted. In a taxing statute, charge can be attracted only by the language used; there is no scope for the supposed intention of the Legislature. In case of any d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n "industrial gas"? The dominant purpose for which the "medicinal oxygen" is used and the normal human behaviour in the matter of using an "industrial gas" detract anyone from using "medicinal oxygen" as an "industrial gas". Abnormality and exceptional circumstances are entirely irrelevant to consider the question. There is always a difference, in practical life, between the actuality and a mere possibility. The several decisions cited before us by Sri S.G. Sundaraswamy, the learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri M.R. Achar, the learned counsel for the respondent in no way advances their respective contentions; all of them are based on the phraseology of the respective tax legislations. Reference was made to "Pharmacopoeia of India" an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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