Letters Patent appeal and strict sales-tax exemption wording controlled maintainability and taxable turnover treatment.

An Article 226 decision by a single Judge was held appealable under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent because writ proceedings are original in character and the relevant appellate reference survived through constitutional and incorporating provisions. Sales made to the Ministry of Industry and Supply were not treated as sales to the Supply Department of the Government of India for deduction under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, as the exemption was confined to the specific statutory wording and could not be expanded by construction. The appeal was therefore maintainable, but the claimed sales-tax deduction failed and the turnover remained taxable.

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Issues: (i) Whether an appeal lay under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent from a single Judge's decision under Article 226 of the Constitution; (ii) Whether sales made to the Ministry of Industry and Supply were deductible as sales to the Supply Department of the Government of India under Section 5(2)(a)(iii) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941.

Issue (i): Whether an appeal lay under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent from a single Judge's decision under Article 226 of the Constitution.

Analysis: Article 226 proceedings for writs in the nature of certiorari, mandamus and prohibition are original in character. The reference in Clause 15 to judgments of a single Judge pursuant to Section 108 of the Government of India Act was held to survive the repeal of the earlier enactment by reason of statutory incorporation and the continuing force of the corresponding rule-making and bench-constitution power under Article 225 of the Constitution. A decision under Article 226, delivered by a single Judge acting under the Court's rules and the Chief Justice's determination, therefore fell within the appealable class under Clause 15.

Conclusion: The preliminary objection to maintainability failed and the appeal was maintainable.

Issue (ii): Whether sales made to the Ministry of Industry and Supply were deductible as sales to the Supply Department of the Government of India under Section 5(2)(a)(iii) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941.

Analysis: The exemption was confined to sales to the specifically named departments. The old Supply Department had ceased to exist and a new composite department, later renamed the Ministry of Industry and Supply, had taken over some functions of the former department. A sale to that later department, even if connected with functions formerly discharged by the Supply Department, was not a sale to the Supply Department within the statutory language. Exemption provisions in a fiscal statute could not be enlarged by judicial construction beyond the words used.

Conclusion: The sales did not qualify for deduction and were liable to be included in taxable turnover.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded on both maintainability and merits, and the tax demand was restored.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory reference to a repealed enactment in a continuing constitutional or incorporating framework must be read with the corresponding surviving provision, and a fiscal exemption applies only to transactions falling strictly within the specific words used in the exemption clause.

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