Statutory reference jurisdiction and exemption construction: only issues raised below are referable, and sugar-cane is not a green vegetable.

A statutory reference is competent only on a question of law that actually arose from, or was dealt with in, the proceedings below; a question not raised before the taxing authorities or decided by the revisional body cannot validly be referred. On the exemption issue, the notification was construed by its ordinary meaning, and sugar-cane was held not to fall within "green vegetables" under the relevant item. The article therefore states that the jurisdictional objection failed as a referable question, while the claimed exemption for sugar-cane was rejected and taxability affirmed against the assessee.

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Issues: (i) Whether a question of law could validly be referred under section 25(1) of the Bihar Sales Tax Act when it had not been raised before, or dealt with by, the taxing authorities; (ii) Whether sugar-cane falls within item 6 of Notification No. 9884-F.T. dated 28 August 1947 as a green vegetable and is therefore exempt from taxation.

Issue (i): Whether a question of law could validly be referred under section 25(1) of the Bihar Sales Tax Act when it had not been raised before, or dealt with by, the taxing authorities.

Analysis: The power of reference was confined to questions of law arising out of the order of the authority below. A question not argued before the Deputy Commissioner and not dealt with in the revisional order of the Board of Revenue could not be treated as a question arising out of that order. The reference jurisdiction therefore depended on the issue having been actually raised or actually decided in the proceedings below.

Conclusion: The first question was not competent to be referred and no answer was furnished on that issue.

Issue (ii): Whether sugar-cane falls within item 6 of Notification No. 9884-F.T. dated 28 August 1947 as a green vegetable and is therefore exempt from taxation.

Analysis: The exemption depended on the meaning of the expression "green vegetables" in the notification. Applying the same interpretation already accepted for the notification and the ordinary dictionary sense of "vegetable", sugar-cane could not be treated as a green vegetable. The earlier binding view on the same notification supported that construction.

Conclusion: Sugar-cane is not a green vegetable within item 6 of the notification and is not exempt from taxation; the answer was against the assessee and in favour of the State.

Final Conclusion: The reference succeeded only on the jurisdictional objection to the first question, while the taxability of sugar-cane under the exemption notification was decided against the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory reference is competent only on a question of law actually raised before, or actually dealt with by, the authority below, and an item claimed as exempt must clearly fall within the language of the exemption notification.

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