Supreme Court of India
Brick And Tile Manufacturers ... vs State Of Tamil Nadu And Ors. on 25 August, 1989
Equivalent citations: [1990]76STC1(SC)
Bench: Sabyasachi Mukharji, B.C. Ray
ORDER
1. This is an application for special leave to appeal from the judgment and order of the High Court of Madras dated 22nd February, 1989. The petitioner-association was a registered association under the Societies Registration Act and us members, it was claimed, were manufacturing bricks with the aid of village artisans in small-scale. It was asserted by the petitioner that these bricks are hand-made and made out of baked clay and stoneware. Power, it is said, is not used for the purpose of manufacturing the bricks. These products were called "country bricks" and as and when they are arranged in chambers, these were also called "chamber bricks". There are two types of bricks, namely, mechanised bricks which are manufactured with the aid of power and hand-mould bricks (otherwise called "country bricks") which are manufactured by the village artisans without the aid of power. It appears there was a notification in 1962. Vide the said notification, the Government of Tamil Nadu had exempted from sales tax levied under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, sales of pottery made of baked clay and stoneware by village artisans or co-operative societies, that is to say, articles made of baked clay and stoneware. In view of the representations made, the notification was amended on 15th May, 1975. The G.O. Ms. No. 590, C.T. & R.E. Department dated 15th May, 1975, stated as follows :
No. 590 Commercial Taxes and Religious Endowments, dated 15th May, 1975.
2. The Madras State Pottery Industries Association has requested to the Government to grant exemption from payment of tax under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, on hand-made country bricks manufactured by the potters of Srivilliputhur in Ramanathapuram District for the reason that hand made bricks are pottery articles and products of village pottery industry. The Board of Revenue has recommended that bricks and tiles manufactured by genuine village artisans may be exempted from the tax under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, as in the case of pottery made of baked clay and stoneware. The Government accept the recommendation of the Board of Revenue (CT4).
3. The notification annexed to this order will be published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette.
4. Thereafter Notification No. 555 of 1975 dated 15th May, 1976, was issued amending the Notification No. 4418 of 1962 as follows :
Notification No. 555 of 1975 dated 15th May, 1975.
In exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-section (3) of section 17 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1969, makes the following amendment to the Revenue Department Notification, II-I No. 4418 of 1962, dated the 30th August, 1962, published at page 1802 of Part II of the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, dated the 19th September, 1962, as subsequently amended.
AMENDMENT In the said notification in item (1) after the word 'pottery' the words 'country bricks and country tiles' shall be inserted.
5. The members of the petitioner-association asserted that they came to know this notification later and thereafter moved writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution in the High Court. The High Court after considering the matter, by an order dated 22nd February, 1989, dismissed the writ appeal. The High Court after setting the names of the members of the petitioner-association held as follows :
By no stretch of imagination the aforesaid members can be styled as village artisans. The Government order extracted at page 1 of the typed set of papers, viz., G.O. Ms. No. 3346, Revenue, dated 30th August, 1962, read with Notification No. II(1)/CTRE/555/75 dated 15th May, 1975, will not apply to the persons enumerated above since they are not village artisans. The said Government order was intended only to help the poor village artisans and not to the persons enumerated above.
6. Hence, I see no merit in this writ petition. This writ petition is, therefore, dismissed. No costs.
7. Aggrieved thereby, the petitioner-association seeks the leave to appeal to this Court. Shri Shanti Bhushan, learned Counsel, submitted that the country bricks or country tiles "need not be produced" by village artisans or co-operative societies, majority of which is village artisans. The requirement of production by village artisans was not required in respect of country tiles or country bricks. We are unable to accept this construction. Grammatically, this construction is not permissible. Indeed, it would also defeat the purpose intended to be served by the exemption notification if this construction is accepted. Shri Shanti Bhushan submitted that the country bricks need not be produced by the members of the, petitioner-association themselves. The expression "produced", Shri Shanti Bhushan submitted, would not apply to the expression "country bricks". It is difficult, as mentioned hereinbefore, to accept this submission in the context of the expression used.
8. Having regard to the purpose of the notification and the expression used, we are of the opinion that the High Court came to correct conclusion. After all, exemption is to be strictly construed. In the premises, the judgment and order of the High Court do not call for any interference. The application is, therefore, dismissed.