Processing of notified commodity: converting camphor powder into cubes made the assessee a dealer under sales tax law.

Camphor was treated as a notified commodity under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954 because it had been specified by notification under section 25 and the statutory definition covered such commodities before or after the 1958 Amendment Act. The definition of dealer also extended to a person selling notified commodities manufactured, made or processed by him in West Bengal. On a broad, ordinary meaning of process, converting camphor powder into camphor cubes by mechanical means amounted to processing and brought the assessee within the dealer definition. The assessee was therefore liable to be treated as a dealer under the Act, and the assessment challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether camphor was a notified commodity under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954, and whether converting camphor powder into camphor cubes by mechanical processing made the assessee a dealer liable to sales tax under that Act.

Analysis: Camphor had been specified by notification under section 25 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954 as a commodity liable to tax, and the statutory definition of notified commodity included commodities specified under that section before or after the commencement of the 1958 Amendment Act. The definition of dealer in section 2(b) covered a person who sells notified commodities manufactured, made or processed by him in West Bengal. The word process was construed in its general sense as continuous or regular action leading to a result, and not as requiring conversion into a wholly different substance. Converting camphor powder into camphor cubes was held to be processing within that definition.

Conclusion: The assessee was liable to be treated as a dealer under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954, and the challenge to the assessment failed.

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