2001 (12) TMI 853

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..... eferred to as "the Act") and according to the department, it would fall under entry 125 of the Act. If it falls under entry 125 of the Act, tax will be levied at 12.5 per cent while if it falls under entry 149 of the Act, the tax will be levied at 10 per cent. The assessing authority completed the assessment treating the stainless steel kitchen sink as an item falling under entry 125. Copy of the assessment order is produced as annexure A. The first appellate authority confirmed the order. The matter was taken before the Tribunal. The Tribunal took the view that the above item would fall only under entry 149. In coming to the conclusion, the Tribunal placed reliance on a clarification issued by Centre for Taxation Studies. 2.. Learned Gov .....

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..... hich are meant for use in lavatories, urinals or bath-rooms. Water storage tanks made of plastic as the common experience shows are not used only in lavatories, urinals and bathrooms. They are used even to store potable water and other purposes and therefore it cannot be said that water storage tank made of plastic are sanitary fittings within the meaning of entry 217. The word "sanitary" means the conditions that affect health especially with regard to dirt and infection, free from or designed to obviate influences deleterious to health. The word "sink" is a basin or box of porcelain, etc., with outflow pipe, especially with water supply in kitchen, etc., for washing up. According to us, the meaning has to be understood as in the common pa .....

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..... or carrying supply of water from one place to another, they would obviously not be 'sanitary fittings'.......Moreover, the words 'water supply.....fittings' do not occur in isolation, but they are used in juxtaposition of the words 'sanitary fittings'. The entire expression 'water supply and sanitary fittings' is one single expression and the words 'water supply..... fittings' must receive colour from the immediately following words 'sanitary fittings'." The above decision was followed by a division Bench of this Court reported in N.R. Somasundaran Nair v. State of Kerala [1999] 112 STC 214; (1999) 7 KTR 55, when it dealt with water storage tanks and held that water storage tanks are not sanitary fittings. In G.S. Pai's case [1980] 45 STC .....

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