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TMI Blog1991 (8) TMI 302X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing sales tax either under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (Central Act No. 74 of 1956), hereinafter referred to as "the Central Act" or under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 (Act No. 6 of 1957), hereinafter referred to as "the State Act", or both, depending on the event of sale or purchase. The question, therefore, raised in this writ petition is whether sales tax could be levied under section 5 of the State Act on maida, ravva, atta, sujji and bran, which are obtained by disintegrating wheat and converting the same into the abovesaid products. Under section 14 of the Central Act certain goods have been declared to be of special importance in inter-State trade or commerce. Under the said section it is declared that cereals, like paddy, rice, wheat, etc., mentioned therein are goods of special importance for the purpose of inter-State trade or commerce. These cereals, which have been named as such in section 14 of the Central Act, come within the category of declared goods. It may be seen that cereal wheat is mentioned in clause (i)(iii) of section 14. In the same section 14, certain other materials like coal, including coke in all its forms but excluding charcoal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lgated thereby declaring certain goods to be of special importance in inter-State trade or commerce. Under section 5(1) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, every dealer is required to pay a tax for each year on every rupee of his turnover of sales or purchases of goods in each year irrespective of the quantum of his turnover at the rates of tax and at the points of levy specified in the Schedules. Under the First Schedule to the State Act a list of goods in respect of which single point tax is leviable under section 5 is given. As serial No. 60 in the said First Schedule the following entries have been made: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- S.No. Description of goods Point of levy Rate of tax --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ........................ 60 (a) Maida, atta and ravva At the point of 5 paise in the not covered by item (b) first sale in the rupee. below. State. (b) Maida, atta and ravva do. 1 paise in the obtained from wheat rupee. that has met tax under this Act. (c) Wheat bran do. 1 paise in the rupee. ---------------------------------------------------- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... above. This obviously means that the intention of the State Legislature is to treat them as separate products or goods, as the case may be, distinct from wheat. The products of maida, atta and ravva are identifiable by themselves in the open market. When we ask for wheat for purchase in the market, it cannot be said that we are actually asking for maida, atta and ravva or wheat bran for that matter. If a person wants to purchase any of these products in the market he will be obliged to name them specifically as maida, atta or ravva, without any mention of the cereal wheat as such. The point which is to be emphasised here is that even in the market overt the abovesaid goods form a distinct and separate products from wheat and are identifiable by their own name. Mr. D. Mohana Rao, learned counsel for the petitioners, has relied on a decision of the Supreme Court reported in Alladi Venkateswarlu v. Government of Andhra Pradesh [1978] 41 STC 394 (SC) wherein it was held that parched rice and puffed rice are "rice" within the meaning of entry 66(b) of the First Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. The Supreme Court held that the intention of the Legislature cann ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t relying upon the Supreme Court decision and came to the conclusion that on a parity of reasoning within the meaning of the decision of the Supreme Court, parched rice and puffed rice fall within the meaning of the expression "rice" in entry No. 66 as it existed then and therefore, ravva obtainable from rice also must be treated as "rice". It may also be mentioned that entry No. 66 has since been omitted and in any case the facts of this case clearly show that the matter cannot be governed by the decision of the Supreme Court in Alladi Venkateswarlu v. Government of Andhra Pradesh [1978] 41 STC 394, which has been rendered in different circumstances while dealing with the question of treating parched rice and puffed rice as "rice" itself. In Udata Narasimha Rao and Co. v. State of Andhra Pradesh [1982] 51 STC 126 (AP) this Court held that ravva obtained from wheat, rice or maize and fried gram dhall are assessable to tax at the rates and conditions mentioned in entries 144 and 147 of the First Schedule to the State Act. The Division Bench further held that the meaning of any expression used in an enactment must be ascertained with reference to the object and scheme of that enactme ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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