Inclusive definition of tobacco extends exemption to tobacco seeds; tax ambiguity is resolved in favour of the assessee.

Tobacco seeds were held to fall within the exempt commodity "tobacco" in item 7 of the Fourth Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. The amended statutory scheme adopted the Central excise meaning of tobacco, and that definition was treated as inclusive rather than exhaustive. Because the text covered parts of the plant after severance and excluded only parts still attached to the earth, the court read the exemption as extending to tobacco seeds absent any express exclusion. Any genuine ambiguity in the tax exemption was resolved in favour of the assessee, so tobacco seeds were not liable to sales tax.

---

---

Issues: Whether tobacco seeds fall within the meaning of "tobacco" in item 7 of the Fourth Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, as amended, and are therefore exempt from sales tax.

Analysis: The amended Schedule adopted the meaning of "tobacco" from the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 through the Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957. That definition was held to be inclusive, not exhaustive. The inclusion of leaves, stalks and stems, coupled with the exclusion only of parts of the plant while still attached to the earth, indicated that all parts of the tobacco plant after severance were intended to be covered unless expressly excluded. In tax law, any genuine ambiguity is resolved in favour of the subject. On that construction, tobacco seeds were not outside the definition.

Conclusion: Tobacco seeds are included in "tobacco" for the purpose of the exemption and are not liable to sales tax.

Ratio Decidendi: An inclusive statutory definition of a tax-exempt commodity extends to unmentioned parts of the plant where the text indicates a non-exhaustive meaning and no express exclusion applies, and ambiguity must be construed in favour of the assessee.

---