Mere assembly is not manufacture, while tax liability on constituent goods needs factual verification before assessment.

Mere assembly of spectacles by fitting lenses into frames does not amount to manufacture of a new commodity, so the assessee cannot be treated as a manufacturer under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act. However, taxability on the underlying glasses and frames depended on the factual question whether tax had already been paid on those constituent goods. That issue required verification by the Assessing Authority, and the earlier remand on that factual enquiry had attained finality. The revisions were allowed and the matter was sent back for determination of the tax position of the glasses and frames used in assembling the spectacles.

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Issues: Whether spectacles assembled by fitting glasses into frames amount to a new commodity liable to tax, and whether the matter required remand for enquiry into whether tax had already been paid on the glasses and frames used in their preparation.

Analysis: The Court followed its earlier view, as modified in review, that assembling frames and glasses does not create a new product and that the assessee cannot be treated as a manufacturer within the meaning of Section 2(k) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954. On the taxability aspect, the Court held that the relevant commodity remains the glasses and frames used in making spectacles, and whether tax had already been paid on those goods is a factual question requiring verification by the Assessing Authority. The prior order of the Tax Board remanding the matter for such factual enquiry had attained finality.

Conclusion: Spectacles assembled from frames and glasses were not treated as a new commodity, but the matter was remanded for factual determination of the tax liability relating to the underlying taxable goods.

Final Conclusion: The revisions were allowed and the dispute was sent back to the Assessing Authority for enquiry on the tax position of the glasses and frames used in assembling spectacles.

Ratio Decidendi: Mere assembly of components does not amount to manufacture of a new commodity, and where tax liability depends on whether tax was already paid on the constituent goods, the issue is one of fact to be determined by the assessing authority.

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