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TMI Blog2003 (4) TMI 533X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... set aside and the order of the assessing authority was restored. Hence this revision. 2.. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the items sold by the petitioner as per Invoice Nos. 513, 517 and 518 (annexures D, E and F respectively) were motor vehicle engine and chassis. The general description of the goods is as follows: "Eicher Mitsubishi Canter Model FE 444 with 92.5 HP direct injection 4 stroke engine along with 6 Nos. 7.50x16x12PR nylon tyres and tubes, one spare wheel with tyre and tube, tools and spares in the following configuration x 3760 mm Cowl Chassis Crystal White Engine No. 120715556 Chassis No. 4FF20723111." The counsel submits that what is sold is not chassis alone but chassis and engine with cabin which cannot be characterised as chassis only. The counsel submits that what was sold is nothing but motor vehicle. The counsel also took us to entry 86 of the First Schedule to the Act as it stood at the relevant time and also the relevant items in Notification SRO No. 369 of 1992 and submitted that the items covered by the three bills are liable to be assessed as light commercial vehicle under item 17 of Notification SRO No. 369 of 1992. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5 or a light commercial vehicle falling under item 17 of the Second Schedule to the notification. In order to decide this issue, it is necessary to refer to entry 86 of the First Schedule to the Act as it stood during the assessment year and the relevant entries in the Notification S.R.O. No. 369 of 1992. Entry 86 of the First Schedule as it stood at the relevant time reads as follows: "86. Motor vehicles, chassis of motor vehicles, motor cycles, motor cycle combinations, motor scooter, mopeds, motorettes, three wheelers, motor vessels, motor engines, trailers, motor bodies built on chassis of motor vehicles, bodies built on motor vessels or engines and spare parts and accessories thereof." The rate of tax on the sale of all or any of these items is 15 per cent as per the entry. By S.R.O. No. 369 of 1992 the State Government in public interest made a reduction in the rate of tax payable under the Act on the sale of goods mentioned in column (2) of the Second Schedule to the rate mentioned against each of the items in column (3) thereof. Item Nos. 5, 6, 17 and 18 of the Second Schedule with Scheduled rate and the reduced rates are as follows: "Sl. No. Description of goods Red ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y of not exceeding twenty-five cubic centimetres." 7. The chassis with engine will come within the definition of "motor vehicle" in the Motor Vehicles Act. However, as held by the Supreme Court in Assistant Commissioner (Anti-Evasion-I) v. Swaraj Mazda Ltd. [2001] 121 STC 255; (2001) 1 KLT SN 59 (Case No. 69) the meaning given to "motor vehicles" in the Motor Vehicles Act cannot be given to the said expression occurring in the Sales Tax Act or in the notification issued thereunder. In the absence of a definition of the words "motor vehicle" in the Sales Tax Act or in the notification issued thereunder the meaning of the same as understood by the trade and the persons who deal with the same has to be given. In other words, meaning of the words "motor vehicles" understood in common parlance has to be applied. Certainly the dictionary meaning can also be looked into. 8.. Webster's New 20th Century Dictionary, Second Edition, gives the meaning of the word "chassis" as "the under frame-work of a motor vehicle including the wheels and engine parts". The word "vehicle" means "any means of carrying, conveying or communicating "; another meaning is "any device on wheels or runners f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ich it is intended. There can be no dispute that in order to serve that purpose effectively it is necessary for a motor vehicle to have a body mounted on it. The design of that body will vary according to whether the motor vehicle is intended to convey passengers or goods. But a body there must be, and unless there is a body, it is not possible to say that a motor vehicle as understood in the popular or commercial sense has come into being. A motor and chassis on wheels is an incomplete motor vehicle. It cannot be employed for the purpose for which motor vehicles are normally intended. It needs something more to complete it, and that something is an appropriate body mounted and fitted on the chassis." Thus both from the dictionary meaning and from the decided cases the words "motor vehicle" carry the meaning "an agent of transportation " which is imparted by a motor and it is only when a body is built on the chassis that it becomes a motor vehicle. 9.. The question whether "truck-plus-chassis" frame is motor vehicle or not came up for consideration before the Karnataka High Court in State of Karnataka v. M. Madhvaraj [1993] 91 STC 572. In that case the assessee purchased "tru ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t used as a means to carry anything else. That equipment requires to be further equipped with a body, at least, in the nature of a plank fitted on the chassis-frame, so that it can be used as a means of transporting something; until this is done, the equipment can be at the most called an incomplete motor vehicle, for the sake of convenience. .............. Having regard to the entries in several Schedules to the Act we are of the view that the term 'chassis of motor vehicle' has to be understood so as to include TPC frames. TPC frames are not meant to convey men or carry goods; they are not used as means of transport and, therefore, they cannot be considered as 'motor vehicles'." 10.. The facts of the present case are on all fours of the case considered by the Karnataka High Court in the above case. We are in full agreement with the view taken by the Karnataka High Court mentioned above which held that chassis necessarily includes the engine and that unless body is built on the chassis it cannot be understood as a motor vehicle for the purpose of levy of sales tax under the Act. We have also held in our judgment dated January 30, 2003 in TRC No. 6 of 2003* that a chassis wit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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