COMMISSIONER SALES TAX Vs. H M INDUSTRIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these revisions filed under Section 11 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act the following question of law has been raised by the Commissioner of Sales Tax: Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the learned additional revising authority was legally justified to hold that 'sewai ki machine' was taxable as kitchen appliance under Notification No. S. T. 3115/X-900 (55)/67 dated 18th June, 1971, and not as 'machinery' taxable under Notification No. 7098/X-1012-1965 dated 1st October, 1965 ?

(2.) There is no dispute on facts. It is admitted that the assessee is a manufacturer of sewai ki machine made of iron (machine for producing vermicelli). The only question is whether it is "kitchen appliance" within the meaning of Notification No. S. T. 3115 dated 18th June, 1971, as otherwise it being an instrument whereby energy or force is transmitted and transformed from one point to another it would be machinery taxable under Notification No. 7098 dated 1st October, 1965.

(3.) The learned standing counsel placed reliance on the following definitions of the words "kitchen" and "appliance" in Chambers's 20th Century Dictionary : Kitchen, a room where food is cooked, a utensil with a stove for dressing food, anything eaten as a relish with bread, potatoes, etc., to regale in the cook-room ; to serve as relish to food; to make palatable, to use sparingly, as one would relish to make it last. Appliance, anything applied; means used. and urged that kitchen appliance means anything used for dressing food. He maintained that as sewai ki machine is not an appliance used for dressing food it cannot be considered as kitchen appliance. It was emphasised that as sewai is a marketable commodity, therefore the machinery by which it is produced cannot be considered as kitchen appliance. The arguments do not carry conviction as they have been built on one of the meanings given to the word "kitchen", that is, "stove for dressing food". In fact, kitchen is a room where food is cooked, and it is in this sense that it is normally understood.