Painter's materials classification turns on actual use for finishing painted surfaces, not on whether an item mixes with paint or varnish.

Broad wording in Notification No. ST-1365/X-990-56 covered articles used by a painter for painting or for giving a finishing touch to painted surfaces. On that test, chandras, used to impart a shining finish to painted objects, was treated as a painter's material. The narrower view that it must be capable of being mixed with paint or varnish was rejected as unsound, and the article was accordingly classified within "all painter's materials" rather than as unclassified goods.

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Issues: Whether chandras falls within the expression "all painter's materials" in Notification No. ST-1365/X-990-56 dated 1st April, 1960, and is therefore taxable as such, or is to be treated as unclassified goods.

Analysis: The notification used broad language, and the Hindi version also employed equally wide terminology. The decisive test was not whether the article could be mixed with paint or varnish, but whether it was an article used by a painter for painting or for giving a finishing touch to painted surfaces. The finding that chandras was used to impart shining finishes to painted objects showed that it was employed as a painter's material. The restrictive view taken by the revising authority, that the article must be capable of being mixed with paint or varnish, was held to be unsound.

Conclusion: Chandras was held to fall within "all painter's materials" and to be taxable as such, not as unclassified goods.

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