BHOLARAM KANOO Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The common issue raised in this batch of writ petitions filed by the same petitioner, W.P. (C) No. 1794 of 2004, W.P. (C) No. 2225 of 2005, W.P. (C) No. 2226 of 2005 and W.P. (C) No. 2227 of 2005, is whether, "raab gur" is to be exempted from payment of tax under the Assam General Sales Tax Act, 1993 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") by treating the same as "gur" which is exempted from tax under entry 17 of Schedule I of the Act or by treating the same as a "cattle feed" which is also exempted from tax under entry 50 of the said Schedule. The petitioner in this batch of writ petitions is engaged in the business of sale and supply of gur, jaggery, raab gur, molasses, etc., in the State of Assam. The said items are brought from different States where they are manufactured and sold in the State of Assam. According to the petitioner, the authorities imposed the tax under the Act in spite of objections raised by the petitioner that "raab gur" is a form of "gur" which is not fit for human consumption and solely used as cattle feed which is exempted from tax under the Act. According to the petitioner, "raab gur" is nothing but another form of "gur". It is stated that after the juice is extracted from sugarcane, the juice is thickened by dehydration and takes the form of "raab" which is a semi-liquid form of sugarcane juice. After boiling the "raab" in a crystallizer, the same is allowed to get cooled and crystals are formed which are then rotated in the crystallizer. The said crystals "raab", are put into a centrifugal machine and during the process of infusion of sulphur, the semi solid sugarcane is cleaned and whitened. The "raab" which is not put into centrifugal machine but dehydrated and hardened by open pan process becomes "gur" which is used for human consumption. On the other hand, the "raab" which is not allowed to be hardened, is sold in semi-solid form, is not fit for human consumption but used only for feeding cattle. Thus, according to the petitioner, "raab gur" is nothing but another form of "gur" which is not fit for human consumption but used for feeding cattle.

(2.) According to the petitioner, the fact that the "raab gur" is another form of "gur" is also clearly evident from the definition of "gur" as given in the Gur Control Order, 1994, the Gur Movement Control Order, 1963 and the Gur (Regulation of Use) Order, 1968.

(3.) The Gur Control Order, 1994 defines "gur" as: