AIRON PRINTING PRESS Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) FOLLOWING two questions have been referred to this Court under Section 42 (1) of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 (for short, "the Act") :

(2.) WHETHER the Tribunal is right in its conclusion that the duplex board and the cardboard are the same commodities and are taxable at first stage ? 2. The assessee was running a printing press and also manufactured cardboard packing cases, boxes and cartons. During the assessment year 1984-85, the assessee had made sales of cardboard packing cases at Rs. 2,18,943. The assessee claimed that those sales were made to registered dealers and were, therefore, not to be subjected to tax at the hands of the assessee. The assessee had collected forms S. T. 15-A from the purchasing dealers who were registered dealers under the Act. The Assessing Authority, however, took the view that cardboard cases, boxes and cartons, manufactured and sold by the assessee, were the items specified at serial No. 11 of the Notification dated May 5, 1973 issued by the Governor of Haryana under Section 18 of the Act and were, therefore liable to be taxed at the first stage of sale. The assessee's plea, however, was that the items manufactured by him were not items of cardboard but had been manufactured from the duplex board as packing materials. These items were, therefore, claimed to be outside the purview of the entry at serial No. 11 of the said notification.

(3.) THE assessee has taken the plea that what he manufactured as packing materials was made from the duplex boards which were different from the cardboards. It was further argued by the assessee that the products manufactured from duplex boards were packing materials and they could never be treated as cardboards. The packing materials had not been specified under the said notification as the goods subjected to the levy of tax at the first stage of sale.