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PETITIONER: ANNAPURNA CARBON INDUSTRIES co.

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

DATE OF JUDGMENT09/03/1976

BENCH: BEG, M. HAMEEDULLAH BENCH: BEG, M. HAMEEDULLAH RAY, A.N. (CJ) SINGH, JASWANT

CITATION:  1976 AIR 1418            1976 SCR  (3) 561  1976 SCC  (2) 273  CITATOR INFO :  RF         1991 SC1017  (2)

ACT:      Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1967. Schedule 1, Entry 4-Arc ‘Carbons. if fall under entry.

HEADNOTE:      Entry 4 of the I Schedule of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales  Tax   Act,  1957,  reads:  Cinematographic  equipment including...parts   and   accessories   required   for   use therewith.      on the  question whether  Arc Carbons, known as ’Cinama Arc Carbons’  - manufactured by the appellant fall under the entry and their sales were, there fore, rightly subjected to sales tax. ^      HELD:  The   meaning  of   an   entry   can   only   be satisfactorily determined  in the  light of  the language of the entry  itself considered  in the  context  in  which  it occurs. and cases relating to totally different entries will have- only  a very  remote bearing.  Entry  4  occurs  in  a Schedule of  taxable goods.  When it was intended to confine an entry to particular gadgets and ’parts thereof’ the entry said so.  Entry 4,  however, includes  ’parts’  as  well  as ’accessories’. The  term ’accessories’  is used  to describe goods which  may have been manufactured for use as an aid or addition to  particular machines,  though, they may serve as aids to other kinds of instruments also. But, this entry and other  entries   use  the   expression  ’required   for  use therewith’. The  description of  the goods  in these entries indicates  that   the  expression   has  been  employed  for equipment or  accessories connected  with the  main purpose. Therefore,  it  is  its  general  of  predominant  use  that determines the category in which an article will fall.                                          [563D-F, G; 564B-C]      In the  present case,  the main  use of Arc Carbons was proved to  be that  of production  of powerful light used in projectors in  Cinemas. The  fact that they can also be used for other  purposes such as for search lights etc., will not detract  from   their  classification  under  Entry  4.  The classification is  determined by  their ordinary  or  common

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known purpose  or user which is evident from he fact thy are known as ’cinema Arc Carbons’ in the market. [564 F-H]

JUDGMENT:      CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 630-631 of 1971.      Appeals by  Special Leave  from the  Judgment and order dated the  19-1-1970 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Tax Revision Cases Nos 46 and 47 of 1969.      V. S.  Desai, Mrs. Vimla Markandeyulu and G. N. Rao for the Appellant.      P. Ram Reddy and P. P. Rao for the Respondents.      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by      BEG, J.  The short  question before us in these appeals by special  leave, is whether sales of Arc carbons, known as "Cinema Arc Carbons", manufactured by the appellant company, were rightly subjected to sales tax for two assessment years 1965-66 and 1966-77 on the ground that they fall under entry No. 4  of the  1st Schedule  of the  Andhra Pradesh  General Sales Tax Act, 1957, (hereinafter referred to as ’the Act’). This entry reads as follows:           "Cinematographic  equipment,   including  cameras,      projectors,  and   sound  recording   and   reproducing      equipment 562      lenses films  and parts and accesories required for use      their with-      As indicated  above, the  very name of the Arc Carbons, as commercial commodities, seems to attach the word "Cinema" to them  because of the use to which they are generally put. The High  Court referred to the fact that the appellants had not produced  their account books to show that they had been purchased by persons other than those who ran cinemas or for any other use. Of course, it is very difficult to identify a taxable commodity  merely by the use to which it may be put. Nevertheless, it  appears that the entry under consideration links the  taxable object  with its general or ordinary use. The  taxing   authorities  were,   therefore,  compelled  to consider the use which is generally made of the arc carbons. They had  concluded that  the common  or ordinary use of the arc carbons  was that  they exuded  their power  foul  light cast, through the projectors, on cinema screens.      It  was  pointed  out  that  the  Sales  Tax  Appellate Tribunal, the  final departmental  authority under  the Act, had allowed  an application  for adducing expert evidence to determine the  question whether  arc carbons manufactured by the appellant  company could  be covered  by the entry under consideration. It,  however, appears  that,  before  further evidence could  be taken,  at the  appellate stage,  on  the subject, a decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, in the State of  Andhra Pradesh  v. Srimathi  Nidmarthi  Saraswathi Devi(1), was  brought to  the notice of the Tribunal. There, the High Court had held that such arc carbons are covered by the 4th  entry in  the 1st  Schedule of  the Act. Hence, the Tribunal  dismissed   the  appeal   without  taking  further evidence.      In the High Court, two decisions cited on behalf of the appellants were:  Deputy Commissioner  of Commercial  Taxes, Madhurai Division,  Madhurai v.  Ravi  Auto  Stores(2),  and State of  Madras v.  Indian oxygen  Ltd. (3). The High Court pointed out  that in  both these  cases what was decided was whether "welding electrodes", considered by themselves, were "electrical goods"  falling within entry 41 of Schedule 1 of

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the Madras  General Sales  Tax Act.  It was  held, in  these cases, that  they were only copper rods which were melted by electrical power  in the process of welding. Neither the use of the  term "electrode"  to  describe  them,  suggesting  a connection with  electricity, nor  their  utilisation  in  a process involving  application  of  electrical  power  could convert them  into "electrical goods" as contemplated by the entry in  the Madras  Act. The  High Court  rightly observed that these decisions had no bearing whatsoever upon the very different entry  in a  schedule of an entirely different Act of a different State.      The same  question has  been argued  before us with the help of some more cases to which the same criticism applies. The additional cases cited before us were: Pashabhai Patel & Co.(P) Ltd. v. Collector of Sales Tax, Maharashtra State(4), where it was held a "tractor"      (1) T.R.C. No. 26 of 2962 (decided on 9th August, 1963)      (2) (1968) 22 S.T.C. 172 (Madras)  (3) (1968) 22 S.T.C.                                                 476 (Madras)                   (4) (1964) 15 S.T.C.32. 563 is not "agricultural machinery", within the meaning of entry 9 in  Schedule of  the Bombay  Sales Tax  Act, 1953; Agrawal Brothers v.  Commissioner of  Sales Tax,  Madhya Pradesh(1); where it  was also  held that a "tractor", which is "nothing but a  self-propelled vehicle capable of pulling a load", or "traction" does  not acquire  the character of "agricultural machinery  or   implement"  merely   because  when  used  on agricultural  land   it  is   used  also   to  draw  certain agricultural implements  like a  plough; The State of Mysore v.  Mores   (India)  Ltd.(2),  where  it  was  held  that  a typewriter ribbon  is not an essential part of a type writer so as  to attract  the tax  under entry  18  of  the  second schedule to - the Mysore Sales Tax, Act, 1957, Commissioner, Sales Tax,  U. P. v Free India Cycle Industries(3), where it was held  that rexine  saddle covers  used also  for bicycle seats are not covered by entry No. 34  introduced by Section 3A  of   the  U.P.   Sales  Tax   Act,  1948,   as  modified subsequently,  which   read:  "bicycles,   tricycles,  cycle rickshaws  and   perambulators  and  parts  and  accessaries thereof other  than tyres  and tubes";  The  Madhya  Pradesh State  Co-operative   Marketing  Society,  Jabalpur  v.  The Commissioner of Sales Tax, M.P. Indore(4), where it was held that oil-engines  and pumps",  which are  not known  in  the commercial world  as "agricultural  machinery" could  not be covered by  an entry  meant for  goods sold for agricultural purposes simply  because some  of  them  are  also  sold  to agriculturists for agricultural purposes.      We do  not think  that any  useful purpose is served by multiplying cases  relating to  entries which  are  so  very different and  could have   only  a very  remote hearing, if any, upon  any reasoning  which could  be adopted to support the submission  that the  arc carbons,  under  consideration here, fall  within the relevant entry 4 of Schedule 1 of the Act. The  meaning of  this entry  can only be satisfactorily determined in  the light of the language of the entry itself considered in the context in which it occurs.      The  entry   No.  4  occurs  in  a  schedule  in  which descriptions  of   goods  to  be  taxed  indicate  that  the expression "required  for use  there with" has been employed for  equipment   or  accessories  connected  with  the  main purpose. For  instance, in entry No. 5 the expression occurs at the end as follows:           "Photographic and  other  cameras  and  enlargers,      films and  plates, paper  and cloth and other parts and

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    accessories required for use therewith". Apparently,  the  deciding  factor  is  the  predominant  or ordinary purpose  or use.  It is not enough to show that the article can  be put to other uses also. It is its general or predominant user  which seems  to determine  the category in which an article will fall.      The first  entry in  the  schedule  relates  to  "motor vehicles" and  includes "component  parts of motor vehicles" and "articles (including batteries) adapted for use as parts and accessories  of motor  vehicles." but  excludes  certain other articles  by putting  in the  words  "not  being  such articles as are ordinarily also used for other purposes than as      (1) (1965) 16 S.T.C. 860.      (2) (1970) 26 S.T.C. 87.      (3) (1970) 26 S.T.C. 428.      (4) (1971) 27 S.T.C. 45. 564 part and  accessories  of  motor  vehicles".  Entry  No.  2, relating to  refrigerators, air  conditioning plants  covers also "component  parts thereof".  Again, entry  No.  3,  for "wireless  reception  instruments  and  apparatus"  includes "electrical  valves,   accumulators,  amplifiers   and  loud speakers and  spare parts  and  accessories  thereof’’.  The words "parts  thereof" are  used in several entries, such as entry No.  6 for  clocks, time-pieces and watches, entry No. 10 for dictaphones and other similar apparatus for recording sound, and  entry No.  11 for  sound transmitting  equipment such as telephones and loud-speakers.      our object  in indicating the nature of entries, amdist which entry No. 4 occurs, is to show that some precision has been attempted  in making  the entries. When it was intended to confine  the  entry  to  particular  gadgets  and  "parts thereof" the  entry said  so. Of course, even where an entry relates to  parts manufactured for use for a particular kind of instrument  of gadget  only, the article, manufactured to serve as a part of a particular kind of apparatus, would not cease to  be covered  by the intended entry simply because a purchaser makes  some other  use of  it. We have to find the intention of the framers of the schedule in making the entry in each  case. The  best guide  to their  intentions is  the language actually employed by them.      We find  that the  term "accessories"  is used  in  the schedule to  describe goods which may have been manufactured for use  as an  aid or  addition. A  sense in which the word accessory  is   used  is   given  in   Webster’s  Third  New International Dictionary  as follows: "all objects or device that is not essential in itself but that adds to the beauty, convenience, or  effectiveness  of  something  else".  Other meanings given  there are:  "supplementary or  secondary  to something of  greater or  primary importance"; "additional"; "any of  several mechanical devices that assist in operating or  controlling   the   tone   resources   of   an   organ." "Accessories" are  not necessarily  confined  to  particular machines for  which they;  may serve  as aids. The same item may be an accessory of more than one kind of instrument.      It will  be noticed that the entry we have to interpret includes parts"  as well as "accessories" which are required for use in projectors or other cinematographic equipment. We think that the Andhra Pradesh High Court correctly held that the main use of the arc carbons under consideration was duly proved to  be that  of production  of powerful light used in projectors in  cinemas. The  fact that they can also be used for search  lights, signalling,  stage  lighting,  or  where powerful lighting  for photography  or other purposes may be required, could not detract from the classification to which the carbon arcs belong. That is determined by their ordinary

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or commonly known purpose or user. This, as already observed by us,  is evident  from the  fact that  they are  known  as "cinema arc carbons" in the market. This finding was enough, in our  opinion, to  justify the  view taken  by the  Andhra Pradesh High  Court that  the goods  under consideration are covered by the relevant entry No. 4.      Consequently, we dismiss these appeals with costs. V.P.S.                                    Appeals dismissed. 565