9911796707
TMI Blog2008 (7) TMI 897X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was filed assessing four per cent tax on the sale of sugar of milk in bulk in four quarters ending March 31, 2001 but the Commercial Tax Officer, Strand Road Charge, (respondent No. 1) completed the assessment of the petitioner for the said quarter on June 16, 2003 under section 45 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994 (in short, the 1994 Act ) where the sales of sugar of milk amounting to Rs. 36,62,568 were not allowed to be exigible to tax at four per cent only as an item specified in serial No. 24A of Schedule IV of 1994 Act on the ground that sugar of milk is not itself a homoeopathic medicine, but a vehicle of homoeopathic medicine and, therefore, charged tax at 10 per cent under section 17(1)(c) of the 1994 Act. On appeal by th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... itigation or prevention of any disease or disorder and/or intended to affect the structure or any function of the human body and particularly all substances intended for use as components of a drug including empty gelatin capsules and as the above aspects of a drug have not been considered in any of the impugned orders those are required to be set aside and sugar of milk be regarded as a drug or at least as a component of a drug, i.e., the homoeopathic medicine as per serial No. 24A specified in Schedule IV of 1994 Act. It is also the argument of Mr. Dasgupta that at the material point of time bulk drugs were to be taxed at four per cent as per section 18 of the 1994 Act and hence, the orders are illegal and invalid and to be set aside. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as homoeopathic medicine or drug or at least a constituent element of drug and the levy of tax at the rate of 10 per centum has been based on use of the item as a vehicle of homoeopathic medicine at best. Now there is no, and perhaps cannot be, any dispute that the term sugar of milk originates from the Latin words saccharam meaning sugar, and Lactis meaning milk and is prepared from goat's milk available in powder form and has no medicinal property of its own but is used mainly as a substance for preparation of homoeopathic medicines like mother tincture, mother solution and mother powder from crude drug materials without which these preparations could not be made. In the above sense of its use it is also called as a vehicle in wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... itself. To fortify his contention that sugar of milk itself has its drug value Mr. Dasgupta has cited and relied on preparation of different types of triturations like Trituration IC, 1x, 2x to show that sugar of milk is required as a component in preparing different types of homoeopathic medicines and has referred the relevant pages of the book Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of India (HPI). It appears therefrom that saccharam lactis , i.e., sugar of milk is much required in preparation of different types of trituration having different drug strength for preparation of homoeopathic medicines. That apart as per the Second Schedule of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, drugs included in the homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of India and in the Indian ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... further appears that the Assistant Drugs Controller (India) of Delhi sent sample of the said goods, i.e., sugar of milk (HMS) before the Government Analyst, Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia Laboratory, Gaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, for test under rule 40 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules for comment on (a) composition, (b) grade, (c) whether goods can be used in homoeopathy or not and (d) use in homoeopathic medicine only or not and in its report dated December 13, 1990 it has been stated that the sample confirmed the prescribed composition in HPI and concluded that the product showed be used as homoeopathic medicine or for homoeopathic medicine only. It also appears from the documents submitted for the petitioner that in 1992 also the Assistant Colle ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tax while the Revenue has treated it only as a vehicle of homoeopathic medicine and being not a medicine itself, is not covered under serial No. 24A of Schedule IV of the Act and being not an item under Schedule I and/ or Schedule VIIIA it is exigible to tax at 10 per cent as per the provision of section 17(1)(c) of the 1994 Act. In the foregoing discussions we have observed that sugar of milk is not only used as vehicle of medication of homoeopathic medicine but also used as an ingredient/element in preparation of trituration, a component of homoeopathic medicine, i.e., a substance of it. Different tests are laid down for interpretation of an entry/item in a taxing statute, namely, dictionary meaning, technical meaning, user's point ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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