PHILIPS SMITH Vs. ADDL SALESTAX OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are bakery owners; most of them are members of the All Kerala Bakery Owners' Association. They prepare and sell cooked food; bread, biscuits, cakes, puffs, ladoo, jilabee, halwa, samoza and the like. The methods of cooking include baking, frying, roasting, boiling and freezing. Under S.9 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act,

(2.) S.9 of the Act reads:-

(3.) It is clear from items (9) and (20) of Schedule.1 that bakery products (excluding bread) and confectionery are not exempt from sales tax. But the same products, it is pointed out, get exemption from tax when sold in hotels and restaurants. Consumers who want to purchase these products therefore flock to hotels and restaurants, and the business of the petitioners is affected thereby, it is alleged. Again, when a hotelier serves these articles at a marriage party, he need not pay sales tax; but when a bakery owner does the same thing, he does not get that benefit. This is another instance, according to the petitioners, where the exemption policy affects them as a class.