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TMI Blog1989 (6) TMI 274X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ncluding car air-conditioners, were liable to the maximum rate of tax and by a letter dated April 14, 1982, the Public Relations Officer of the Office of the Commissioner, Commercial Taxes (annexure "B') informed the applicant's tax consultant accordingly. The applicant has all along been importing the said goods to West Bengal without any permit and selling the same as Schedule II non-notified goods. On April 3, 1989, the Inspector of Commercial Taxes of Chichira check-post, Midnapore, seized the goods in question, being car air-conditioners which were being brought into West Bengal by lorry No. MCU 479 on the ground that such import of notified goods was without permit. Thereafter, penalty proceedings were started. The applicant made its submissions against seizure and penalty proceedings, but on April 18, 1989, a penalty of Rs. 1,07,500 was imposed by the concerned Commercial Tax Officer, holding that car air-conditioners were accessories of motor cars and therefore were goods notified under section 4A of the said 1941 Act. Hence this application challenging the seizure and penalty. 3.. The case of the respondent is that although car air-conditioners are "air-conditioners" wit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... "Notification No. 1319-FT dated April 19, 1984 Spare parts, accessories and components (including storage batteries) of motor vehicles, motor-cycles and cycle combinations, motorscooters including mopeds and motorised cycle-rickshaws, motorettes and tractors (but excluding tyres and tubes, and flaps of tyres and tubes). Explanation.-For the purposes of this notification, 'tractors' shall include bull dozers, scapers, excavators, wheel loaders and pipe layers." 7.. It is admitted that the car air-conditioners in the present case are sold in West Bengal by the applicant exclusively to Hindustan Motors Ltd. It was submitted during arguments that Hindustan Motors Ltd. have been using the same in "Contessa Classic" motor cars manufactured by them. The term "accessories" notified under section 4A has not been defined in the 1941 Act or the Rules made thereunder or in the relevant notifications. Neither party has taken the position before us as to the meaning given to the said term in the trade circles, that is to say, by those who deal in and use the car air-conditioners. In Black's Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition, the following meaning is given to the word "accessory": "anything which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ect or device that is not essential in itself but that adds to the beauty, convenience, or effectiveness of something else.' Other meanings given there are: 'supplementary or secondary to something of greater or primary importance'; 'additional'; 'any of several mechanical devices that assist in operating or controlling the tone resources of an organ'. 'Accessories' are not necessarily confined to particular machines for which they may serve as aids. The same item may be an accessory of more than one kind of instrument." On behalf of the applicant reliance was placed also on [1983] 54 STC 308 (Supreme Motors v. State of Karnataka). In this case a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court was considering whether car seat covers are accessories of motor vehicles. By referring to a number of decisions including that of the Supreme Court in [1976] 37 STC 378 at 381 (Annapurna Carbon Industries Co. v. State of Andhra Pradesh), it was held by the Karnataka High Court that seat covers of motor cars at best could make the seats more comfortable, but do not serve as aids to the vehicle as a whole, and therefore, they must fall outside the ambit of entry 73 of the Second Schedule to the Kar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oppel, because, as the Supreme Court held in AIR 1987 SC 2414 (Delhi Cloth General Mills Ltd. v. Union of India), it is quite fundamental that the doctrine of promissory estoppel cannot be used to compel the public bodies or the Government to carry out the representation or promise which is contrary to law or which is outside their authority or power. We hold that the Public Relations Officer's letter of the year 1982 has no binding effect whatsoever on the different authorities subordinate to the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes. Nor does it exclude application of section 4A to the car air-conditioners at any future date. 13.. In the case of State of Uttar Pradesh v. Kores (India) Ltd. [1977] 39 STC 8, the Supreme Court held that ribbon is an accessory and not a part of the typewriter machine. It observed that just as aviation petrol is not a part of the aeroplane nor diesel is a part of a bus, ribbon is not a part of the typewriter, though it may not be possible to type out any matter without it. This decision was relied on by the learned State Representative, but car air-conditioners cannot pass this test at all. 14.. There cannot be any dispute that car air-conditioners f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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