YAMSANI SUDARSANAM Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE question that poses itself here is whether parched rice (atukulu) is comprised in the word "rice" in entry 6 of Schedule III of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957.

(2.) THE petitioner is a dealer in paddy and parched rice at Warangal. He claimed exemption on the sale of parched rice manufactured out of the paddy which he purchased, by reason of the Explanation read with Schedule III, items 5 and 6. That Explanation reads :

(3.) WE do not think that the petitioner can derive much assistance from either of the two cases. In the first of the cases, the point for determination before the Assam High Court was whether the word "cereal" comprehended "chira" and "muri". The view taken by the learned Judges in that case was that notwithstanding the transformation which the rice had undergone, since the word "cereal" was used in a broad and comprehensive sense in which it would include readily edible food which had been prepared by merely conditioning a cereal in its original state, both "chira" and "muri" would be covered by the word "cereal" as they retained the quality of the cereal whose original state had ceased to exist. But we are not concerned with the interpretation of the word "cereal" here. One of the meanings of the word "cereal" as given in the Chambers's (Twentieth Century) Dictionary is "a food prepared from such grain, especially a breakfast food easily got ready." The word "rice" cannot have such a wide connotation as "cereal". The Legislature here has advisedly used the expression "paddy and rice". It has not said "paddy and/or all products of paddy". Therefore, it is unnecessary for us to consider whether the principle embodied in the cited case is correct, since this ruling does not furnish any analogy here. The pronouncement of their Lordships of the Supreme Court also is not helpful to the petitioner, since their Lordships have laid down that hydrogenated groundnut oil and groundnut oil could be put to the same uses and that the hydrogenated groundnut oil continues to be groundnut oil in spite of the processing employed for the purpose of rendering the oil more stable to improve its keeping qualities for those who desire to consume groundnut oil.