TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1961 (7) TMI 47
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....eavy structurals, nails, joints, wire nails and all kinds and varieties of wires and pipes. This business is carried on by the constituent members of the appellant at Indore and Ratlam at which places they have their registered offices. The State of Madhya Bharat, by its Act No. 30 of 1950, imposed sales tax in the territory of Madhya Bharat on the sales of goods therein specified with effect from May 1, 1950, and under the provisions of the said Act the Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Bharat, and the Sales Tax Officer, Indore, who are respondents 2 and 3, were appointed authorities for the assessment of tax leviable under the Act and for its recovery in their respective areas. Section 3 of the Act is the charging section and it provides for the incidence of taxation. Section 4, which deals with the application of the Act, exemption and exclusion, provides by sub-section (2) that no tax shall be payable under the Act on the sale of goods specified in the second column of Schedule 1 on conditions mentioned in column 3 of the Schedule. "Iron and steel" appears in Schedule 1 as item 39. Section 5 prescribes the rate of tax and it provides that the tax will be recover- able as not....
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....the first notification it was provided that no tax shall be payable, inter alia, on the sale of iron and steel. "Iron and steel" was placed at item 39 in the said Schedule. The other notification issued on the same day by item 9 in the list provided for the sale of the articles specified in the said item. This item reads thus: "Every kind of metal including copper, brass, manganese, zinc, lead, mercury, bronze, nickel, aluminium, tin and their ore form (excluding iron, steel, gold and silver) and goods prepared from any metal other than gold and silver, utensils and wires, goods prepared from one or more than one metal, utensils and wires which also include mangars, metal pieces and scraps, cutting and lantern, gas, stove and type-letters (excluding circles and sheets of copper, brass and alu- minimum)." It is common ground that under this notification the articles in which the constituents of the appellant deal would be liable to pay the sales tax in question. After this notification was issued the appellant wrote to respondent 3 claiming exemption from payment of sales tax for the goods and articles in which its constitutent members are dealing but this plea was rejected....
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....are to be essential for the life of the community, and it is suggested that if the narrow dictionary meaning of the words is adopted it would not serve the said object and purpose of the constitutional provision. Mr. Sastri has also relied on what he has described as the legislative history which indicates that the said words should receive a broad and wide construction in the context. In that connection he has invited our attention to the provisions of section 2(d), section 3 and the categories specified in the Second Schedule to the Iron and Steel (Control of Production and Distribution) Order, 1941. These categories, according to Mr. Sastri, unmistakably support his argument that the expression "iron and steel" as used in the order was obviously used in a very wide and broad sense. Similarly, he has referred to the provisions of section 2(a)(vii) of Act XXIV of 1946 [The Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946] and section 2(a)(vi) of Act 10 of 1955 (The Essential Commodities Act, 1955). His contention is that it would be legitimate for the Court to consider the legislative history in the matter of the use of these words and their denotation, and that the legis....
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....came into existence under and after the Constitution; and that shows that the impugned law must be a law made by the Legislature of a State subsequent to the Constitution. This condition is satisfied in the present case because the impugned notification has been issued by virtue of the authority delegated to respondent 1 by Act 30 of 1950 and this Act was passed after the Constitution was adopted. Let us then consider the second condition which is also in the nature of a condition precedent. This condition requires that the impugned law must impose or authorise the imposition of a tax on the sale or purchase of any such goods as have been declared by Parliament by law to be essential for the life of the community. There can be little doubt that this condition postulates that at the time when the impugned law is passed there is a preexisting declaration made by Parliament in regard to the essential character of a commodity. The material words in respect of this condition are that the sale or purchase of any such goods as have been declared by Parliament by law to be essential for the life of the community. Therefore, if the parliamentary declaration follows the impugned enactment....