Independent determination of factory status is required in sales tax assessment; registration under another law is only evidence.

Where a taxing provision adopts the definition of "factory" from another enactment, the sales tax authority must independently determine whether the statutory conditions for taxability are satisfied. Factory registration under the Factories Act is relevant evidence, but it is not conclusive and cannot replace the authority's own satisfaction on the jurisdictional fact. The commentary explains that assessments under the West Bengal sales tax regime cannot stand if made without recording that independent satisfaction, and that any consequential recovery proceedings are equally unsustainable. Fresh assessment remains open if the statutory conditions are properly established in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the Commercial Tax Officer could treat the factory registration under the Factories Act as conclusive for sales tax assessment, and whether the assessments under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954, could stand without his own satisfaction that the applicants' premises answered the statutory definition of a factory.

Analysis: The exemption and taxability provisions under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 and the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954 turned on whether the biscuits were manufactured in a "factory" as defined in the Factories Act, 1948. The reference to that definition in the taxing provisions was merely adoptive or referential. Accordingly, the taxing authority was required to decide for itself whether the statutory conditions for assessment under the 1954 Act existed. Registration under the Factories Act was relevant evidence, but it was not conclusive and could not replace the authority's own satisfaction on the jurisdictional fact.

Conclusion: The assessment orders were invalid because the Commercial Tax Officer acted without recording his own satisfaction on the statutory issue, and the consequential certificate proceedings could not survive.

Final Conclusion: The impugned assessments and recovery proceedings were set aside, while leaving the revenue authority free to make fresh assessments in accordance with law if the statutory conditions are established.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing provision adopts the definition of "factory" from another enactment, the taxing authority must independently determine whether the jurisdictional conditions for taxability exist; external registration under the other enactment is only evidence and not conclusive proof.

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