Biscuits and sealed containers under sales tax notification: earlier classification made the concessional-rate question immaterial.

Biscuits were treated as outside the category of cooked food, so the question whether they were sold in sealed containers did not affect eligibility for the concessional sales tax rate under the notification. The reference under the U.P. Sales Tax Act arose on the applicability of the exemption-rate notification, but the earlier ruling on biscuits controlled the issue and made the sealed-container classification immaterial. The referred question was not answered, and the reference was disposed of without adjudication on that point.

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Issues: Whether biscuits and confectionery sold by the assessee could be regarded as biscuits and confectionery sold in sealed containers for the purpose of the concessional sales tax rate under the notification.

Analysis: The matter arose under a reference under section 11(4) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 concerning the applicability of Notification No. ST-3128/X-1012(4)-1965 dated 1st July, 1966. The Court noted that, in an earlier ruling, biscuits were held not to fall within the category of cooked food. On that basis, the question whether the packets in which the biscuits were sold were sealed containers did not affect entitlement to the lower rate of tax.

Outcome: The referred question was not answered and the reference was disposed of without adjudication on the sealed-container issue.

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