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TMI Blog1997 (2) TMI 503X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ferred to as "the Board", was then known). 2.. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have perused the record and the law cited. 3.. The short point is whether the sale by the non-petitioner in the assessment years 1982-83, 1983-84 to various hospitals and the Medical and Health Department of hospital cots, bedside lockers, stretchers, stretcher trollies, wheel chairs, operating tables, food wagons, commode chair, examination chair, etc., were exigible to tax at the rate applicable to "metal furniture" at the relevant time which was 12 per cent. The non-petitioner assessee took them not to be covered by the description "metal furniture" and proceeded on the basis that the sale of these items were exigible to tax at the ge ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gs that are discussed in the paragraphs that follow. 5.1. In Godrej Boyce Mfg. Co. (P) Ltd. v. State of Kerala [1991] 83 STC 474, the High Court of Kerala had before it a question whether slotted angles and panels exclusively made of iron and steel which could be manipulated to make items of furniture like a rack or ladder were themselves included in the relevant entry for furniture made of iron and steel in the relevant provisions of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act. It was held that they could not. It may however be mentioned that the Supreme Court had rejected the special leave petition against a similar decision of the Karnataka High Court dismissing the State's revision application against the order of the Karnataka Tribunal allowi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rument cabinets, revolving stools and self-propelling chairs can be put to use as lockers, tables, cabinets, stools and chairs in the home. But the question is whether they can be said to be articles of furniture in the popular or general sense. The contention of the revenue is not that in the generally accepted sense they are articles of furniture. The contention is that their design and equipment do not preclude them from being used as furniture. It is one thing to say that although they cannot be generally described as furniture they can be used as such. That points to a compulsive use, a role for which they were never originally intended. That is not the same thing as saying that they are articles which in the popular or general sense a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ictionary meaning of "furniture" is well-known. In Webster's Dictionary, Second Edition, 'furniture' has been defined to mean 'an article of convenience or decoration used to furnish a house'. The word 'furniture' means, according to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 'to fit up (an apartment, a house) with all that is requisite, including movable furniture, which is now the predominant notion'. It cannot be said, without violence to the language, that the dental chair is an article of convenience which can be used for the purpose of furnishing a house. That meaning would be nothing shorter than travesty of the language. As stated above, it is a necessary apparatus or tool for doing a job of dental surgeon and the very fact that the s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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