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TMI Blog2011 (4) TMI 77X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f entry no (ix) nor it would refer to the expression "Iron and Steel" as each item used in entry nos (ix) and (xv) are independent items not depending on each other at all as has been held in the case of Pyare Lal Mehrotra. The decision of this Court in Union of India v. Hansoli Devi wherein this Court held that it is a cardinal principle of construction of a statute that when the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous, the court must give effect to the words used in the statute Held that : the decision arrived at by the High Court that stainless steel wire is not covered under the entry of "tools, alloys and special steels" in entry no (ix) and, therefore, does not fall under "Iron and Steel" as defined under section 14(iv) of the Central Act have to be upheld - Hence, the said commodity cannot be treated as a declared commodity under section 14 of the Central Act and provision of section 15 of the Central Act does not apply to the facts of the present appeals - The findings arrived at by the High Court does not suffer from any infirmity - Consequently appeals dismissed without any order as to costs. - Civil Appeal No. 3605 of 2011, 3606 of 2011, 3607 of 2011 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion arrived at by the respondent, a proposal was sent to the Additional Commissioner, Grade-I, Trade Tax, Ghaziabad Zone, Ghaziabad requesting him for permission to re-open the case of the appellant for the assessment year 1999-2000. 7. The Additional Commissioner, Grade-I, Trade Tax, Ghaziabad Zone, Ghaziabad issued a notice dated 22.3.2006 directing the appellant to show cause as to why the permission should not be granted to the assessing authority for re-opening of the case under section 21(2) of the UP Act. 8. Respondent No. 3 on 24.3.2006 issued a notice under section 10-B of the U.P. Act for revising the assessment order passed for the assessment year 2000-01. The appellant states that similar notices for the assessment years 2001-02 and 2002-03 were also issued to the appellant by Respondent No. 3. 9. The appellant filed its reply dated 27.3.2006 to the notice dated 24.3.2006 and, inter alia, stated that "stainless steel wire" is a declared commodity under clause (iv) of section 14 of the Central Act, hence in view of section 15 thereof, no tax can be imposed on the declared commodities in excess of 4%. The appellant had also submitted identical replies to the notice ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... another notification dated 23.11.1998 was issued by Respondent No. 1 by exercising power under clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 3-A of the U.P. Act, whereby under Item 7, Sheets and Circles made wholly or principally of stainless steel and all remaining articles (excluding wares and surgical instruments) made wholly or principally of stainless steel were taxable @ 15% and steel wires were sought to be taxed @ 15% presuming to be an article made of stainless steel. The relevant part of the said notification is extracted hereinbelow: "S. No. Description of goods Point of tax Rate of tax percentage ( i ) Sheets and circles made wholly or principally of stainless steel. M or I 15% ( ii ) All remain articles (excluding wares and surgical instruments made wholly or principally of stainless steel." M or I 16. Later, on 15.01.2000, Respondent No. 1 issued a notification superseding the notifications dated 26.10.1991 and 23.11.1998 respectively, and Item No. 8 of the said notification provided for levy of tax @ 15% on sheets and circles made wholly or principally of stai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng sleepers and pressed steel sleepers, rails heavy and light crane rails; (xiv) wheels, tyres, axles and wheel sets; (xv) wire rods and wires-rolled, drawn, galvanized, aluminized, tinned or coated such as by copper; (xvi) defectives, rejects, cuttings or end pieces of any of the above categories." 18. Section 15 of the Central Act is also a relevant provision and the same is extracted hereunder :- "15. Restrictions and conditions in regard to tax on sale or purchase of declared goods within a State - Every sales tax law of a State shall, insofar as it imposes or authorises the imposition of a tax on the sale or purchase of declared goods, be subject to the following restrictions and conditions, namely:- (a) the tax payable under that law in respect of any sale or purchase of such goods inside the State shall not exceed four per cent, of the sale or purchase price thereof; ** ** **" 19. The Commissioner of Commercial Taxes issued a circular on 25.11.2005 to the Joint Commissioner Trade Tax, Ghaziabad directing that sale of stainless steel pipe, tubes, sheets shall not be taxable as declared goods under section 14 (iv) of the Central ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . 24. He also referred to the expression "of any of the above categories" occurring in entry no (ix) of clause (iv) of section 14 of the Central Act contending inter alia that the said expression plays an instrumental role in determining the scope and ambit of the aforesaid item. Relying on the same, he submitted that any product of stainless steel is confined within entry nos. (i) to (ix) of clause (iv) of section 14 of the Central Act and it cannot be given a wider meaning to include "stainless steel wire" in entry No. (xv) of clause (iv) of section 14 of the Central Act. He specifically relied upon the decision of this Court in State of Tamil Nadu v. Pyare Lal Mehrotra [1976] 1 SCC 834. 25. In the light of aforesaid submissions made by the counsel appearing for the parties, we proceed to answer the issue which arises for our consideration by recording our reasons therefor. 26. In the aforesaid decision in Pyare Lal Mehrotra (supra) the very word "that is to say", as per section 14 of the Central Act was considered and it was held that originally expression "that is to say" is employed to make clear and fix the meaning of what is to be explained or defined and that such wor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eel sets". Some of the enumerated items like "melting scrap" or "tool alloys" and "special steels" could serve as raw material out of which other goods are made and others are definitely varieties of manufactured goods. If the subsequent amendment only clarifies the original intentions of Parliament, it would appear that Heading (iv) in section 14, as originally worded, was also meant to enumerate separately taxable goods and not just to illustrate what is just one taxable substance: "iron and steel". The reason given, in the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the 1972 Act, for an elucidation of the "definition" of iron and steel, was that the "definition" had led to varying interpretations by assessing authorities and the courts so that a comprehensive list of specified declared iron and steel goods would remove ambiguity. The Select Committee, which recommended the amendment, called each specified category "a item no" falling under "iron and steel". Apparently, the intention was to consider each "item no" as a separate taxable commodity for purpose of sales tax. Perhaps some items could overlap, but no difficulty arises in cases before us due to this feature. As we have pointed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... which purpose the word includes is generally employed but, in the context of single point sales tax, subject to special conditions when imposed on separate categories of specified goods, the expression was apparently meant to exhaustively enumerate the kinds of goods in given list. The purpose of an enumeration in statute dealing with sales tax at a single point in a series of sales would, very naturally, be to indicate the types of goods each of which would constitute a separate class for a series of sales. Otherwise, the listing itself loses all meaning and would be without any purpose behind it." 33. It is thus clear, that the language used in entry no (ix) is plain and unambiguous and that the items which are mentioned there are "tools, alloy and special steel". By using the words "of any of the above categories" in entry Nos. (ix) would refer to entries (i) to (viii) and it cannot and does not refer to entry no (xv). However, entry (xvi) of Clause (iv) would be included in entry (xvi) particularly within the expression now therein any of the aforesaid categories. Therefore, the specific entry "tool, alloy and special steel" being not applicable to entry (xv), the content ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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