SALES TAX COMMISSIONER Vs. LACHMAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a reference under Section 11(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act at the instance of the Commissioner of Sales Tax, U.P., Lucknow, and relates to the assessment year 1962 -63. The connected cases are also references relating to assessment years 1963 -64 arid 1964 -65.

(2.) THE assessee, Lachman Singh, is a dealer in chaff -cutters and along with the chaff -cutters he sells oil -cans and steel files. During the three assessment years in question, a dispute arose between him and the sales tax department with regard to the taxability of the turnover of oil -cans and files. The assessee claimed that the turnover of oil -cans and files was exempt from tax as they were sold as accessories of chaff -cutters. The Sales Tax Officer did not accept this contention and treated these two articles as unclassified goods and taxed their turnover under Section 3. The assessee went up in appeal, but did not succeed. He then applied in revision and the revising authority has accepted the assessee's plea. The Commissioner is aggrieved and has brought these references. The following common question of law has been referred:

(3.) THE word "accessory" has not been defined in the Act, nor it is a technical or a scientific term. In the New English Dictionary by W. A. Craig, the word "accessory" when used in relation to a thing means "something attributing in a subordinate degree to a general result or effect; an adjunct or accompaniment". Now, an oil -can or a steel file may not be adjuncts but certainly they are accompaniments of a chaff -cutter. They contribute in a subordinate degree to a general result or effect of a chaff -cutter. Without them a chaff -cutter cannot work efficiently for a long time. We are thus satisfied that oil -cans and steel files are accessories of chaff -cutters and their turnover is exempt from tax under the aforesaid notification.