No manufacture in cleaning and tanka of old ornaments where the original commercial identity remains unchanged.

Cleaning and putting tanka on old ornaments is not manufacture if the process does not create a new and distinct article with a different commercial identity. The essential test is whether the original commodity loses its identity; where the ornaments remain the same in character and nature, the activity is only repair or treatment and not manufacture or processing under section 2(e-1) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948. On that reasoning, the text states that the activity falls outside the statutory definition.

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Issues: Whether cleaning and putting tanka on old ornaments amounts to "manufacture" within section 2(e-1) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948.

Analysis: The decisive test is whether the process results in a new and distinct article with a different commercial identity, or whether the original commodity retains its essential identity. Cleaning and tanka on old ornaments do not alter the character or nature of the ornaments, and the article remains the same. Such activity therefore does not amount to manufacture or processing within the statutory definition.

Conclusion: The activity of cleaning and putting tanka on old ornaments does not fall within section 2(e-1) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948, and the revision was allowed in favour of the assessee.

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