ASSISTANT COMMERCIAL TAXES Vs. AZAD BAKERY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE four reference applications filed by the Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer, Ward 'C' Ajmer raise a common question and therefore, they are being disposed of by this common order.

(2.) THE non -petitioners to each of these cases is a bakery engaged in manufacturing and selling breads and biscuits and their turnover exceeds Rs. 6,000/ - but is less than Rs. 15,000/ -.

(3.) THE decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Ballabhdas Isbwardas is further distinguishable, because the learned Judges in that care were dealing with Entry No, 41 relating to cooked food which was an exempted article. Here, the same construction may not prevail. Section 3 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act is the charging section and at classifies different classes of dealers by whom the tax is payable. Under Section 3(1)(a) dealers, who manufactures or sells floods other than cooked food having a taxable turnover exceeding Rs. 6,000/ - come within the mischief of the section. Section 3(1)(c) refers to dealers who are not covered by Section 3(1)(a) and have a turnover exceeding Rs. 15,000/ -. There can be co doubt that biscuits constitute cooked food as they are cooked in an oven through the application of heat. Now, it can hardly be disputed that the biscuits are an article of food. They are also cocked by a process of baking. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning of the word 'Biscuit' as 'a kind of crisp dry bread more or less hard, prepared generally in thin flour cakes. The essential ingredients are flour and water, or milk, without leaven Webster's Third New International Dictionary gives the meaning of Biscuit of 'twice cooked bread ' According to the Oxford English Dictionary 'cocked' in relating to an article of food means 'the article of food prepared by heat for eating.' All these tests are fulfilled in the case of both bread and biscuits. That they are so is clear from the Commissioner's instructions relating to bread contained in Notification No. 16,38 Tax/CCT/67/127. Jaipur, dated 27th September, 1967, which reads as under: Doubts have been expressed by some assessing authorities whether Bead is a cooked food and as such the dealers (manufacturer) exclusively dealing in Bread and having turnover of and upto Rs. 16,000/ - are not liable to Registration and Payment of Tax? The matter has been examined and it is clarified that baking or preparation of breed is manufacturing of cooked food. A dealer exclusively engaged in preparation of bread will therefore be deemed to be a person dealing in cooked food. Limits of turnover in such cases, will have to be taken accordingly.