Manufacturer under sales tax exemption includes jeweller who causes ornaments to be made by independent artisans and sells them separately.

The term "manufacturer" in the sales tax exemption notification was construed in its statutory and trade context, not by a narrow dictionary meaning. A jeweller who supplies gold to independent artisans, gets ornaments made, and sells them separately showing gold value and making charges was treated as causing manufacture from supplied raw materials. That interpretation preserved the intended exemption for first owners of finished gold ornaments in the local trade. The petitioners were therefore held to be manufacturers within the exemption clause and entitled to sales tax exemption.

---

---

Issues: Whether, for the purpose of the sales tax exemption notification issued under section 6 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947, a person who supplies gold to independent artisans for making ornaments and thereafter sells the ornaments by separately charging the value of gold and the making charges is a "manufacturer".

Analysis: The expression "manufacturer" in the exemption notification was construed in its statutory context. Although a narrow dictionary meaning would confine manufacture to production by the seller's own hand or through his employees in his own factory, that approach would make the exemption unreal in the local trade conditions. The notification was intended to exempt jewellers selling gold ornaments when the gold and manufacturing charges were separately shown, and the petitioners were the first owners of the finished ornaments. The word "manufacturer" was therefore taken to include not only one who actually makes the goods, but also one who causes them to be made from supplied raw materials by independent artisans on payment of labour charges.

Conclusion: The petitioners were manufacturers within the meaning of the exemption clause and were entitled to exemption from sales tax.

---