9911796707
TMI Blog2007 (8) TMI 672X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... L KRISHAN VYAS J. The above four revision petitions are directed against the common judgment dated December 11, 2006 passed by Rajasthan Tax Board, Ajmer and involved identical question of law, therefore, all these revision petitions are being decided by this common order. According to the facts of the case, the petitioner's firm was granted exemption certificate on March 5, 1998 for the sale of jaljira. Under the Incentive Scheme, masala/spice fall in the negative list of the scheme and the assessee being not a producer of masala/spice and being a producer of jaljira was found eligible to avail benefit under the incentive scheme. The respondent-department has assessed the petitioner's product as such by levying tax at general rate under residuary entry and not as spice/masala for assessment years 1996-97 to 2000-01. However, the respondentdepartment has passed order dated March 15, 2004 for reassessment under section 29 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1994 for assessment year 2001-02 by holding that jaljira is a masala and the same falls in the category of packed masala taxable at the rate of 16 per cent under entry 184 of rate notification dated March 29, 2001 (annexu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s a pre-meal/post-meal appetiser and also used in spraying it over fruit salad and fruit chats. It is also considered as drink which is good for digestion, freshness and as a heat reliever. Further, it is submitted that product jaljira is never used as cooking medium for cooking any vegetables. It is not used as an additional constituent for food preparation while on the other hand spices/masalas are used as additional constituents for preparing food. Therefore, it is obvious from the fact that none of spices/masalas can be used as drink by mixing them in water. Jaljira in general trade and commerce has never been understood as a spice/masala and for the purpose of levying tax, the composition of petitioner's product cannot be ignored which mostly contained salt and citric acids and spices are used in very small quantity. Therefore, the finding of the assessing authority as well as learned Tax Board is totally erroneous. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the exemption certificate dated March 5, 1989 was duly granted after consideration of the fact that the petitioner's product does not contain any spice/masala and it mostly contains salt and citric ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of jaljira is possible. It is further submitted that merely because some spices are used as raw material, that too in a very small quantity, for manufacturing jaljira, we cannot call the petitioner's product masala. It is also submitted that the petitioner's product jaljira falls rather under entry 86 which includes items like ayurvedic medicines and preparations, digestive tablets, churans, powders and liquids where rate of tax is eight per cent. In these circumstances, while concluding the arguments, it is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that jaljira cannot be termed or defined as spice/masala and respondent-department cannot consider the said jaljira in the category of entry 184 which is subsequently amended as entry 186 and cannot levy tax at the rate of 16 per cent. The assessing authority has rightly assessed the tax earlier while treating the jaljira in the residuary category at the rate of 10 per cent. Therefore, merely on the ground that the petitioner's firm is selling jaljira in packed condition, it cannot be termed as packed masala. In general trade and commerce jaljira has never been understood as a spice/masala. The product is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a is used as an appetiser, meaning thereby, it is in a more concentrated form than general masala like namak and kala namak. The argument of the petitioner that the department is only levying tax under entries 184 and 186 of the notification dated March 29, 2001 and March 22, 2002, respectively is totally baseless because multi-ingredients of different masalas are used for preparation of jaljira, therefore, it falls in the category of multi-ingredients packed masala as such the petitioner cannot escape from his liability. Therefore, the assessing authority as well as learned Tax Board has rightly arrived at with the finding that the petitioner's product jaljira falls under entry 184/186, respectively. There is no error in it. Learned counsel for the respondent-department submitted that the argument of learned counsel for the petitioner that in chapter heading 21.08 of Central Excise Tariff, jaljira is not considered as spice/masala and, therefore, the Sales Tax Department cannot take different view, is not tenable because every department is having its own provisions for levying tax and when specific notifications have been issued for levying tax by the Sales Tax Departme ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rrect that jaljira is consumed as appetiser and it is not separately used for cooking purposes. Jaljira in general trade and commerce cannot be understood S. No. Name of Item Percentage 1. Salt 40% 2. Kala namak 1% 3. Nimbu ka sat (citric acid) 8% 4. Sonth 10% 5. Kalimirch 10% 6. Pudina 10% 7. Hing 1% 8. Jira 18% 9. Lalmirch In view of above contents, jaljira is nothing but edible preparation ready for use either directly or after dissolving in water, for human consumption and as it is not used as additional constituent in any food substance, therefore, it cannot be termed as packed masala. Further the name jaljira, i.e., jal which means water itself suggests that it is somethi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
