Battery charging is not manufacture when it only restores working condition without creating a commercially different commodity.

Battery charging by filling electrolyte and passing electric current did not amount to manufacture under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, because the controlling test was whether the activity produced a commercially different commodity. The batteries had already undergone the manufacturer's formation charge and were supplied in dry condition only for transport convenience. The dealer's charging process merely restored and completed the battery's working condition without changing its essential nature or character. As no new commercial commodity emerged, the activity fell outside the statutory meaning of manufacture, and the reference was answered in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether battery charging by adding electrolyte and passing electric current through the battery supplied by the manufacturer constituted "manufacture" within the meaning of section 2(17) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959.

Analysis: The statutory definition of manufacture covers producing, making, extracting, altering, ornamenting, finishing, or otherwise processing, treating or adapting goods, but the controlling test applied was whether the activity brought into existence a commercially different commodity. The record showed that the batteries had already undergone the manufacturer's formation charge and were received in a dry condition only for convenience of transport. The dealer's initial charge merely restored and completed the battery's working condition by filling electrolyte and passing current for a further period, without altering the essential nature or character of the article. The authorities distinguished earlier precedent treating charged batteries as manufactured goods because the present facts showed no emergence of a new commercial commodity.

Conclusion: The activity did not amount to manufacture, and the answer to the referred question was in the affirmative in favour of the assessee.

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