Andhra HC (Pre-Telangana)
State Of Andhra Pradesh vs Budha Vinyl (P) Ltd. on 10 September, 1990
Equivalent citations: [1992]84STC131(AP)
Author: Chief Justice
Bench: Chief Justice
JUDGMENT Yogeshwar Dayal, C.J. and Upendralal Waghray, J.
1. This tax revision case is directed against the order of the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal dated 7th of August, 1989, whereby the Tribunal disposed of thirteen appeals against the various orders passed by the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes of the respective dates mentioned in the order.
2. We make it clear that all the assessment orders relate to the period before 1st May, 1987. Before 1st May, 1987, the position is that the Fourth Schedule provides for the goods exempted from tax under section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. Item No. 5 reads, "cotton fabrics, man-made fabrics and woollen fabrics". Explanation to the Fourth Schedule states, inter alia, that the expressions in items 5, 6 and 7 shall have the same meanings assigned to them in the Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957 (Central Act 58 of 1957). The provisions of the Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957, were examined by the Supreme Court in the case reported as State of Kerala v. Attesee (Agro Industrial Trading Corporation) . Though the Supreme Court was concerned with the interpretation of item No. 7 of the Third Schedule and section 9 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, the provisions thereof are in pari materia with the provisions of item No. 5 of the Fourth Schedule and section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act.
3. While examining the meaning of the words "cotton fabrics" mentioned in item No. 7 of the Third Schedule of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, Ranganathan, J., speaking for the Supreme Court, traced the history of the relevant entry and also noticed the provisions of the Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957, and noticed that the definition of "cotton fabrics" in section 3 of the Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957, in terms defines it as per the meaning assigned to them in the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944. In the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, as it stood after 1st April, 1963, "cotton fabrics" were defined thus :
"'Cotton fabrics' means all varieties of fabrics manufactured either wholly or partly from cotton and includes dhoties, sarees, chaddars, bed-sheets, bed-spreads, counter-panes, table-cloths, embroidery in the piece, in strips or in motifs and fabrics impregnated or coated with preparations of cellulose derivatives or of other artificial plastic materials but does not include ......"
4. In the aforesaid decision, Ranganathan, J., took the view as under :
"11. For the above reasons, we are of opinion, that the High Court was right in the view it took, viz., that the scope of the exemption available under item No. 7 of the Third Schedule to the 1963 Act will vary according to the scope of the corresponding entry in the Schedule to the 1944 Act as it stands at the relevant time. So far as assessment years 1971-72 and 1972-73 are concerned, the definition of 'cotton fabrics' in item No. 19 of the Schedule to the 1944 Act, as amended by the Finance Act, 1969 with effect from April 1, 1969, will apply."
5. If this is the meaning to be given to "cotton fabrics" as mentioned in entry 5 of the Fourth Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, the fabric in dispute, namely, rexine, comes within the meaning of "cotton fabrics".
6. It is also the common case of the parties that for the relevant years the assessee had paid the additional excise duty as contemplated by the aforesaid Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957, for the relevant years in question in the present revision case. Thus, when the goods are covered by the Fourth Schedule, section 8 comes into play, and in view of section 8(2-A) of the Central Sales Tax Act, the goods in dispute are exempt from the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, respectively.
7. The revision case, therefore, fails and is accordingly dismissed.
8. Petition dismissed.