TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1973 (4) TMI 80
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....os. 1933, C.A. Nos. 1752, C.A. Nos. 1753, C.A. Nos. 1754, C.A. Nos. 1755, C.A. Nos. 1756, C.A. Nos. 1757, C.A. Nos. 1758, C.A. Nos. 2724, C.A. Nos. 2725, C.A. Nos. 2737, C.A. Nos. 2738 of 1972, C.A. Nos. 35, C.A. Nos. 9 of 1973. -------------------------------------------------- The judgment of the court was delivered by HEGDE, J.-The appellants carry on business of buying paddy and after getting it husked either in their own mills or in other mills sell the rice to the Government and other registered dealers. On the purchase of paddy they paid purchase tax as provided in the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948. The question for decision is whether when they sold the rice produced out of the paddy purchased, they were ....
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....ailable to transactions relating to rice. The argument proceeded on the basis that rice was nothing but dehusked paddy. Both rice and paddy are identical goods. When paddy was dehusked, there is no change in the identity of the goods. In support of their contention, the appellants cited to us certain dictionary meanings of the word "paddy" to show that rice is nothing but dehusked paddy. This court has firmly ruled that in finding out the true meaning of the entries mentioned in a Sales Tax Act, what is relevant is not the dictionary meaning, but how those entries are understood in common parlance, specially in commercial circles. Sales tax primarily deals with dealers who are engaged in commercial activity. Therefore, what is of the ....
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.... the appellants relied on the decision of this court in State of Madhya Bharat (now State of Madhya Pradesh) v. Hiralal [1966] 17 S.T.C. 313 (S.C.). There the relevant entry read "iron and steel". The question was whether when a dealer purchased scrap iron locally and imported iron plates from outside and after converting them into bars, flats and plates in his mills, sold them in the market, they continued to be "iron and steel". This court ruled that in spite of the change effected because of the process the goods had undergone, the goods sold in the market did not cease to be "iron and steel". We do not think that this decision is of any assistance to the appellants because both the goods purchased as well as sold were "iron and steel....
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....dy continued to be paddy even after dehusking. It had changed its identity. Rice is not known as paddy. It is a misnomer to call rice as paddy. They are two different things in ordinary parlance. Hence quite clearly when paddy is dehusked and rice produced, there has been a change in the identity of the goods. In this view it is not necessary for us to refer to the decisions of some of the High Courts read to us at the time of hearing. There is yet another difficulty in the way of the appellants. Both the Punjab Sales Tax Act as well as that Act as amended by Haryana make a distinction between rice and paddy in their respective Sales Tax Acts. Rice and paddy are treated differently. It is true that the entries in question were brought on....