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TMI Blog1991 (7) TMI 337X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tax. The assessing officer, however, being of the opinion that the "artificial silk yarn" is not "silk yarn" and, therefore, not exempted from levy of sales tax, held the sale to be taxable at the rate of 10 per cent and accordingly determined the taxable turnover of the petitioner for the assessment year in question. The petitioner carried an appeal. The appellate authority confirmed the conclusion of the assessing officer and held that the "artificial silk yarn" is by its very nature a silk which is not natural and not indigenous or anything which is not real and as such it cannot be treated as a "silk yarn". The petitioner then carried a second appeal to the Tribunal. The Tribunal relying upon the decision in the case of Deputy Commissio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... words, phrases and sentences of a statute are ordinarily to be understood in their natural, ordinary or popular and grammatical meaning unless such a construction leads to an absurdity or the context or object of the statute suggest a different meaning and this principle of construction has been infringed by giving restrictive meaning of the expression "silk yarn". Mr. Agrawal lastly contends that in notifying the goods exempted from Orissa sales tax as well as in notifying the goods subject to sales tax in some of the entries the expression "pure silk" and "artificial silk" have been used and, therefore, notwithstanding the same when the general term silk yarn has been used, the legislative intent is clear that it includes within it both t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... his notification exempting goods from taxation is obviously made in exercise of power under section 6 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act. 6.. Coming to the principle of interpretation of statute, it is cardinal rule of construction that the words must be interpreted in their ordinary grammatical sense, unless there be something in the context, or in the object of the statute in which they occur, or in the circumstances with reference to which they are used, to show that they were used in a special sense different from their ordinary grammatical meaning. It was so held in Victoria City Corporation v. Bishop of Vancouver Island AIR 1921 PC 204. In Grey v. Pearson 5 WR 454, Lord Wensleydale stated: "In construing statutes and all written instrumen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... restricted meaning to the aforesaid expression. 7.. The Tribunal with reference to the decision reported in [1954] 5 STC 180 (Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Dharmaprakasha, S.V. Sreenivasa Setty) has given a restrictive meaning to the expression. In the said decision the question that arose was whether the sale of artificial silk manufactured in foreign countries and imported to India was exempted from taxation by virtue of notification issued by the Government of Mysore where the exempted entry was: "the sale of filature silk, foreign silk and charka silk twisted by hand shall be exempted from taxation." It is in that context their Lordships held that "artificial" denotes what is not genuine or not real and the ordinary rule of con ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... de to the effect that the products under consideration are ordinarily understood to be textiles and come within the descriptional nomenclature of "artificial silk" and, therefore, held the articles to be exempted from levy of sales tax. The discussion made in the aforesaid judgment cannot therefore be of any assistance in interpreting the entry silk yarn used in item 7 of the exempted list and item 100 of the list of goods subject to levy of sales tax under the provisions of the Orissa Sales Tax Act. The learned Standing Counsel for the department relied upon the decision of the Madras High Court in the case of State of Tamil Nadu v. Polyweb Private Ltd. [1982] 51 STC 364 where the question posed was whether polyethylene woven fabrics are i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... khadi silk cloth. In the list of goods of exempted items against item No. 16 handloom or powerloom woven cloth of all kinds excepting cloth made from pure silk of handloom origin has been used. Similarly in item 22 mill-made fabrics made wholly or partly of cotton, staple fibre, rayon, artificial silk or wool including processed fabrics made in the processing mills have been described. Therefore in some of the items either "artificial silk" or "pure silk" have been specifically indicated. But so far, as the "yarn" is concerned, the expression used is "silk yarn" and this indicates that it was intended to bring within it both pure silk yarn as well as artificial silk yarn. Even applying the common parlance test or the test as to how the goo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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