Commercial identity of glass bangles preserved despite ornamentation; separate tax entries were held ultra vires the levy provision.

Plain and ornamented glass bangles were treated as the same commercial commodity because ornamentation only changed outward appearance and did not create a new article of trade. The distinction between processing and manufacture was decisive: ornamentation did not amount to manufacture, so the goods could not be artificially split into separate taxable entries for a single-point levy. The notification creating separate entries was therefore held invalid and ultra vires section 3-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, and the assessment based on it was quashed.

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Issues: Whether plain glass bangles and ornamented glass bangles are distinct commercial commodities for the purpose of levy under section 3-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, and whether the notification splitting them into separate entries and subjecting each to tax was valid.

Analysis: Glass bangles remained the same article notwithstanding ornamentation. The added process only changed the outward appearance and did not bring into existence a new commercial commodity. The distinction between processing and manufacture was material, and ornamentation did not amount to manufacture. Since section 3-A authorised a single-point levy only in respect of a goods class, an artificial classification of the same commodity into two taxable entries was beyond the power conferred by the provision.

Conclusion: Plain and ornamented glass bangles were held to be the same commercial commodity. The notification creating separate taxable entries was invalid and ultra vires section 3-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The assessment made on the footing of the impugned notification could not be sustained, and relief was granted by quashing the assessment order.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a post-manufacturing process only alters the appearance of an article without changing its essential character, use, or commercial identity, the article remains the same commodity and cannot be artificially split into separate taxable goods for a single-point levy beyond the statutory authority.

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