Strict construction of tax concessions bars treating de-oiled cake as oil cake for reduced sales tax.

A tax concession under a notification must be confined strictly to the goods expressly covered by it. De-oiled cake could not claim the reduced Central sales tax rate merely because it is derived from oil cake, since the statutory scheme treated oil cake and de-oiled cake as separate commodities. The common parlance approach could not override the clear classification in the notification and schedule. The concessional rate was therefore denied, the Tribunal's grant of relief was set aside, and reassessment at four per cent was restored.

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Issues: Whether the reduction in Central sales tax granted by the notification issued under section 8(5) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 applied to de-oiled cake, and whether oil cake and de-oiled cake could be treated as the same commodity for the purpose of the concessional rate.

Analysis: The notification expressly granted the reduced rate only in respect of the specified goods, namely de-oiled cake, and not oil cake. Oil cake and de-oiled cake were treated in the statutory scheme as separate commodities, and the mere fact that de-oiled cake is obtained after extraction of oil from oil cake did not make them identical for tax purposes. A taxing notification granting concession must be strictly construed, and nothing can be read into it by implication. The common parlance approach could not override the clear legislative classification reflected in the notification and the relevant schedule.

Conclusion: De-oiled cake was not entitled to the concessional rate claimed on the footing that it was the same as oil cake. The issue was decided against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The Tribunal's grant of the concessional rate was set aside and the reassessment applying tax at four per cent was restored.

Ratio Decidendi: A tax concession under a notification must be confined to the goods expressly covered by it, and commodities separately recognised by the statutory scheme cannot be treated as identical merely because one is obtained from the other by processing.

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