COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX Vs. GREEN RESTAURANT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this reference under Section 44 (1) of the M. P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), the Board of Revenue has referred the following question of law to this Court for its opinion :

(2.) THE material facts giving rise to this reference briefly are as follows : The assessee runs a restaurant at Indore and was assessed to sales tax for the period from 1st April, 1969 to 31st March, 1970. The turnover of the applicant included sale of "chapatis" and "tanduri rotis" and the contention of the assessee was that the sale of these articles was exempt as those articles were included in the expression "bread" occurring in entry No. 8 of the First Schedule to the Act containing list of goods exempted from tax. That contention was not accepted by the assessing authority. On appeal, the appellate authority affirmed the finding of the assessing authority and held that the entry No. 8 of the First Schedule to the Act included within its purview only "bread" or "double roti" and not other kinds of breads. In this view of the matter, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner rejected the appeal. On further appeal, the Tribunal held that the expression "bread" in entry No. 8 also included "chapati" and "tanduri roti". In this view of the matter, the Tribunal allowed the appeal. Hence at the instance of the department, the Tribunal has referred the aforesaid question of law to this Court for its opinion.

(3.) THE answer to the question referred to this Court turns on the meaning to be assigned to the word "bread" occurring in entry No. 8 of the First Schedule to the Act, which gives list of goods exempted from tax. It may be noted that entry No. 8 in the First Schedule was amended by the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1978 (Act No. 25 of 1978 ). By this Amending Act the expression "double roti" has been substituted for the expression "bread* occurring in entry No. 8.