COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX Vs. RATILAL NANCHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a reference by the Sales Tax Tribunal under section 30 of the Saurashtra Sales Tax Ordinance, 1950 (No. XVIII of 1950), referring the following questions for opinion of this Court :- "(i) Whether the executive instructions of the Collector of Bombay State may be taken into consideration while interpreting entry 5 of the Schedule attached to the Saurashtra Sales Tax Ordinance, 1950 (Ordinance No. XVIII of 1950) ? (ii) Whether entry No. 5 of Schedule attached to the Saurashtra Sales Tax Ordinance, 1950 (Ordinance No. XVIII of 1950) can be interpreted so as to include 'Baporiya' (fireworks used during Diwali festival, known as Bengal Light Matches) ?"

(2.) THE opponent who is a manufacturer of Bengal Light Matches was assessed by the Sales Tax Officer, Gohilwad, under item No. 5 of the Sales Tax Ordinance. THE Saurashtra Sales Tax Tribunal decided that the Bengal Light Matches were not included in the said item and were therefore not liable for assessment to sales tax. THE Commissioner of Sales Tax thereupon moved the Tribunal to make the above reference. THE Schedule attached to the Ordinance gives a list of goods which are liable to assessment for sales tax under section 6 of the Ordinance. Item No. 5 in the Schedule mentions "crackers and fireworks of all kinds".

(3.) THE material question however is the second question, viz., whether entry No. 5 can be so interpreted as to include the Bengal Light Matches, which are knows in the regional language as "Baporiya". It is common ground that they are only used during the Diwali festivals. THE corresponding item in the Bombay Act is item 30 in Schedule I in section 6 of the Bombay Act. THE words used in item 5 in the Saurashtra Ordinance are "fireworks of all kinds". THE learned Advocate-General therefore argued that by adding the words "of all kinds" to the word "fireworks" in the Saurashtra Ordinance the Saurashtra legislature intended to give a wider meaning to the term "fireworks" than the Bombay Act and consequently Bengal Matches which were unquestionably a type of fireworks were included in this definition. He also pointed out that while under the Bombay Act, the general rule in section 6 was to levy sales tax on goods of every kind except those which were exempted by section 7, the rule in Saurashtra was different and under the Ordinance, sales tax could be levied on specified articles only, all other articles being exempted from the tax. He argued that taking into account this fundamental difference in the structure and the purpose of the two enactments, the interpretation which might find favour with the authorities in Bombay would not necessarily hold good in the case of Saurashtra.