M ABDUL HAMEED SAHIB Vs. STATE OF MADRAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner in this revision case is a dealer in cloth, ready-made garments and zari in Vellore. For his turnover in 1959-60 he was assessed by the Joint Commercial Tax Officer, Vellore II. Out of the assessed turnover he claimed that Rs. 15, 808 represented the value of the zari work done on silk cloth amounting to works contract and not sales and therefore exempt from assessment. This claim was negatived by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner as well as by the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal in appeal. THE dealer has now come before this Court in revision.

(2.) THE findings of the authorities below show the nature of the transaction. THE appellant had with him certain designs embroidered on silk cloth. THEse embroidered pieces were sold to customers and in the bills the particular description of the embroidery is given and a price is fixed according to the weight of the zari. THEre was no evidence, which would support the claim of the assessee that the customer supplied the cloth for these embroidered pieces. THE assessee himself is a cloth merchant, and it is quite possible that the customer who buys cloth from him will also buy his ready-made zari embroidered pieces, which are suitable for being stitched to several garments, like sarees, blouses etc. THE lower authorities have also found that the value of cloth is very little when compared with the value of the zari work done in these pieces. That is why the appellant was able to sell these pieces by the weight of the zari that went into the embroidery work done on them.

(3.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner as a final argument referred to item 19 of the First Schedule to the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1959, which provides zari, as an item of goods assessable at the point of first sale in the State. According to the learned counsel, the sales in this case are subsequent sales and therefore they would be exempt, but the fallacy in this argument lies in the fact that what was sold is not zari. It is zari thread embroidered into attractive designs or patterns on silk cloth. The customer has paid in these cases not for zari material as such, but for the design worked out with zari material on silk cloth which can be used for being stitched to other garments. The argument would have been perfectly valid if what was sold was zari, plain and simple. But that is not so in this case. We therefore confirm the decision of the Tribunal and dismiss the revision case, but without costs.