TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1995 (3) TMI 190
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.... dry cell batteries manufactured by the assessees are exi- gible to tax under Entry No. 3 or Entry No. 38 of the First Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957? (2) Whether the arc carbons manufactured by the assessees are exigible to tax under Entry No. 4 or Entry No. 38 of the First Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 ? The Tribunal held that the "dry cell batteries" are taxable under Entry No. 38 except only those which are specified for use in transistors, which alone are taxable under Entry No. 3; and the "arc carbons" are taxable under Entry No. 4. The revisions filed by the assessee have been dismissed by the High Court. Hence these appeals by special leave. The concerned matters are similar and are disposed of in terms of this judgment. 2. The relevant entries with reference to which the above questions are to be decided, at the material time, were as follows :- "3. Wireless reception instruments and apparatus, radios, and radio gramaphones, electrical valves, accumulators, amplifiers and loud-speakers and spare parts and accessories thereof. At the point of first sale in the state 12 paise in the rupee ....
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.... and spare parts and accessories thereof". The words "parts thereof" are used in several entries, such as entry No. 6 for clocks, time-pieces and watches, entry No. 10 for dictaphones and other similar apparatus for recording sound, and entry No. 11 for sound transmitting equipment such as telephones and loud-speakers. Our object in indicating the nature of entries, amidst which entry No. 4 occurs, is to show that some precision has been attempted in making the entries. When it was intended to confine the entry to particular gadgets and "parts thereof" the entry said so. Of course, even where an entry relates to parts manufactured for use for a particular kind of instrument or gadget only, the article, manufactured to serve as a part of a particular kind of apparatus, would not cease to be covered by the intended entry simply because a purchaser makes some other use of it. We have to find the intention of the framers of the schedule in making the entry in each case. The best guide to their intentions is the language actually employed by them. We find that the term "accessories" is used in the schedule to describe goods which may have been manufactured for use as an aid or add....
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....n 1976 while the other category of matters relates to the period subsequent to that amendment. For the period prior to the 1976 amendment, the dry cell batteries only of Union Carbide India Ltd. which bore on it the mark "for transistors" were held to be taxable under Entry No. 3 at a higher rate while the multi-purpose dry cell batteries of all the assessees which did not bear any such mark were held to be taxable at the lesser rate under Entry No. 38. Accordingly, for the period prior to 1976, the only aggrieved assessee is the Union Carbide India Ltd. in respect of its batteries bearing the mark "for transistors" which were assessed at the higher rate under Entry No. 3 while the State is aggrieved by assessment of the remaining dry cell batteries of all assessees under Entry No. 38. For this reason, there are cross appeals by the Union Carbide India Ltd. and the State relating to the period to 1976 amendment. 6. For the post-1976 period, the High Court has held that all dry cell batteries, after the amendments in the Act, are taxable only under Entry No. 38. Accordingly, the State alone has preferred the appeals in this behalf for the post-1976 period. 7. All the appeals a....
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....ose made of wood (iii) Electrical fans, lighting bulbs, torches, fluorescent tubes and their fittings, like chokes and starters and other parts and accessories thereof; (iv) Electrical grinders, mixers, blenders, hair driers, shavers, washing machines, cooking ranges, boilers, ovens, geysers, generators, transformers and parts and accessories thereof; (v) Electronic systems, instruments, apparatus, appliances including electronic cash registering, indexing card-punching, franking and addressing machines, computers of analog and digital varieties, one record units, osciloscopes and other electronic equipment and material and parts and accessories thereof; (1038) 137. Electrical storage batteries and parts thereof including containers, covers and plates (1137) At the point of first sale in the state 12 paise in the rupee With effect from 1-7-1985 :- 152. Dry batteries or cells *(and parts and accessories thereof). At the point of first sale in the state *(10) paise in the rupee *Rate of tax on item 152 r....
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.... secondary cell, storage battery" and storage battery is mentioned to be the same as an accumulator. 11. Primary cells and primary batteries or dry batteries or cells are understood in common parlance as well as in technology to be different from accumulators or storage cells. 12. In The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. I, at page 963, it is stated that, "There are two major types of voltaic cells : primary batteries and secondary, or storage, batteries. (The latter are sometimes also called accumulators.) Primary cells are constructed in such a way that only one continuous or intermittent discharge can be obtained. Secondary devices, on the other hand, are constructed so that they can be discharged and then recharged to approximately their original state. The charging process is the reverse of the discharge process; therefore, the electrode reactions in these batteries must be reversible. "Primary batteries" are defined as "Several varieties of primary cells are available. These include dry, wet, and solid electrolyte. Dry cells are not actually dry but contain an aqueous electrolyte that is unspillable or immobilized. Many of these cells are sealed to prevent seep....
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....dition to any of the specified articles in that entry or not. It was also pointed out that when it was intended to confine the entry to particular gadgets and particulars thereof, the entry said so; and, therefore, the expression "accessories thereof" must mean the general or predominant user of the article only as an accessory of one of the specified items mentioned in that entry. Applying that test, it cannot be held that dry batteries or cells which were not marked "for transistors" and were multi-purpose cells were manufactured for predominant use as accessories of the wireless reception instruments etc. to fall under Entry No. 3 so that they could not be treated as "other accessories" of "all electrical goods" for the purpose of attracing Entry No. 38. 16. At this stage, it is also useful to refer to a clarification made by the Board of Revenue by a circular dated 7-1-1977 which reads as follows : "B.P. Rt. No. 29/1977 Board of Revenue (C.T.) Hyderabad D/7-1-1977 Shri A. Krishnaswamy, I.A.S., Commissioner of Commercial Taxes. Sub :- Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 Rate of tax on dry battery cells - Clarifi....