NAND RAM SURAJ MAL Vs. R K KAIRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short qaestion, which arises for determination in these two writ petitions Nos. 620-D and 688-D of 1966 filed by the Delhi Cloth & General Mils Company Limited, Delhi, and the Ganesh Flour Mills Company Limited Delhi, respectively, is whether terminal tax on the import of g.round-nut oil and other edible vegetable oils within the limits of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is payable in accordance with the rates specified in entry No. 3 or those specified in entry No. 16 of Class I of the Tenth Schedule of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 (66 of 1957) (hereinafter referred to as the Act).

(2.) The respondents in Civil Writ No. 620-D are the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Union of India, while those in Civil Writ No 688-D are the Commisioner, Municipal Corporation, Delhi, and the Union of. India. The two petitioner-companies (are engaged in the manufacture of Vanaspati (hydrogenated vegetable) ghee in Delhi and for that purpose import raw. unprocessed and unrefined ground-nut oil, til oil and sunflower oil from all over India. According to sub-section (1) of section 178 of the Act, on and from the date of the establishment of the Corporation, there shall be levied on all goods carried by railway or road into the union territory of Delhi from anyplace outside thereof, a terminal tax at the rates specified in the Tenth Schedule, Class I of the Tenth Schedule deals with the rates of terminal tax on articles of food and drink, Eatries Nos. 3 and 16 of Class tread as under :

(3.) From the resume of facts given above, it is clear that the first question which arises for determination is whether ground-nut oil is an admixture of ghee as mentioned in entry No. 3. The process of the preparation of vegetable ghee has been given in the two cases of M/s Tungabhadra Industries Ltd, Kurnool v. The Commercial Tax Officer. Kurnool^, and Union of India and another v. Delhi Cloth and General Mills Co., Ltd." It is, however, not necessary to reproduce that process. For the purpose of the present case it is sufficient to state that it is the common case of both the parties that ground nut oil is the principal constituent and ingredient out of which vegetable ghee is prepared. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition, Volume I, the word "admixture means" "1. The action of mingling as an ingredient ; the fact of being so mingled. 2. That which is mixed with anything ; an alloy." Accepting the above meaning of the word "admixture"' ground-nut oil, in our opinion, cannot be said to be an admixture of ghee or vegetable ghee though it may be the chief ingredient for the preparation of vegetable ghee When the Legislature used the word "admixtures of ghee" in entry No. 3, it meant, in our view, anything which was mixed with ghee or vegetable ghee and not something which was used as the principal ingredient for the preparation of ghee. It is significant that entry No. 4 in Class I of the Tenth Schedule deals with butter and cream, and provides the rate of terminal tax for those articles of food. Had the word 'admixture' been used in the sense of being the principal component or ingredient of ghee, entry No. 4 would be superfluous and otiose because butter and cream would, according to the contention advanced on behalf of the respondents, be already provided for in entry No. 3. Entrv No. 4 thus lends colour to the contention advanced on behalf of the petitioners that the word 'admixture" in entry No. 3 has not been used to denote the principal component for the preparation of ghee and vegetable ghee.