TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1954 (3) TMI 52
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....2, communicated to him on 4th September, 1952. The petitioner then moved the Commissioner of Taxes for a refer- ence to this Court under Section 32(2) of the Assam Sales Tax Act, 1947 (hereinafter called the Act). This was by a petition, dated 24th October, 1952. The Commissioner of Taxes made a reference in which he expressed the opinion that the above commodities were "to be con- sidered more as 'forms' of rice than as products thereof and exempt from taxation." The point of law which he thus referred for the consideration of this Court was: "Whether the turnover from chira and muri was exempt from taxation under item (1) of Schedule 3 of the Assam Sales Tax Act?", and he submitted that in his opinion the answer to the question should be in the affirmative. The reference was heard on 29th May, 1953, by a Bench of this Court and it was dismissed on the ground that such a reference was incompetent in law and was not covered by the provisions of Section 32 (2) of the Act. The petitioner complains that instead of disposing of the applica- tion under Section 31 of the Act,-as the Commissioner had power to do-he erroneously made a reference to this Court, with the result that the pet....
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....s exempted being 'all forms of rice', I do not see how I can hold 'all products of rice' also to be exempt." I have quoted this because it puts the case strongly for the Depart- ment. The Commissioner of Taxes, as already observed, did not agree with this view of the taxing authorities because, in his opinion, these commodi- ties were to be considered "more as 'forms' of rice than as 'products' thereof and exempt from taxation", and he even suggested that the answer to the question formulated in the reference to the High Court should be given in the affirmative. Mr. Ghose on behalf of the petitioner has endeavoured to reinforce the opinion expressed by the Commissioner of Taxes. He has referred to the Assam Food Stuffs (Foodgrains) Control Order, 1951, wherein "rice and paddy products" have been defined to include chira and muri etc. He also referred to the Railway Traffic Rules wherein they have been placed on the same footing as "rice" for purposes of railway freights. The Assam Food Grains Control Order of 1951, though a local Order, is a later publication and cannot be of much assistance in construing the language of the statute with which we are concerned here, which came int....
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.... of rice"; but the very fact that in spite of having mentioned the genus, the legislature was still anxious to mention the species and the repetition of the word "all " in relation to both shows that the intention was to make the language of the exemption as wide and comprehensive as possible. The term "including" is significant and in the collocation of the words used in the exemption clause, it seems to me that "forms of rice" do not refer merely to the various varieties of rice, because that would be clearly implied by the mere use of the expression "rice", but also to the forms which rice may take, so long as it does not altogether lose its original shape or character of a cereal. The contention of the learned Advocate-General that the word "forms" should be confined to mere varieties of rice, does not, therefore, commend itself to me, as that would be putting a construction upon the language of the clause which unwarrantably narrows its meaning. The idea was to exclude all cereals from taxation. The dictionary meaning of the term "cereal" is "grain used as food". Chira and muri, to all intents and purposes, are cereals, and have not lost their character of cereals by any proc....
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....and also for revision under Section 31 of the Assam Sales Tax Act, 1947. Section 31 lays down that the Commissioner may, either of his own motion or on petition filed within ninety days of the order objected to, call for and examine the records of any proceedings which have been taken under this Act, and revise such order. He contends that this remedy under Section 31 was available to the petitioner, but instead of taking advantage of it, he has sought to move this Court for a prerogative writ which should not be, therefore, allowed to him. The fact that there is a specific remedy available is not in all cases an absolute bar to the entertainment of an application under Article 226 of the Constitution. We find in the present case that the order passed by the Assistant Commissioner dismissing the appeal of the assessee was passed on 20th August, 1952, and communicated to the petitioner on 4th September, 1952. On 24th October, 1952, well within 90 days from the date of that order, the petitioner moved the Commissioner against the appellate order of the Assistant Commissioner. The application un- doubtedly was for a reference under Section 32 of the Act and, as such, was apparently mi....
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.... also responsible for not specifically moving the Commissioner under Section 31 of the Act, he should not get any costs of this application. RAM LABHAYA, J.-The issue is whether chira and muri are ex- empt from taxation under the Sales Tax Act. The answer depends on the interpretation to be placed on the first item in Schedule 3 attached to the Sales Tax Act. This item is as follows: "All cereals and pulses including all forms of rice, when not sold in sealed containers." The contention is that it would cover both chira and muri. They are mere forms or varieties of rice and not its products. The processes that rice or paddy undergoes to reach the stage of chira and muri are negligible. They produce no appreciable or material change in paddy or rice whatever it may be. It is not correct to regard them as products of rice. It is a settled rule of construction that the intention of the legisla- ture is to be gathered from the language used in the enactment which comes up to be interpreted. If the words leave no doubt as to their meaning and import, it is the obvious duty of the Court to give effect to them. Where the language is plain and admits of one meaning only, it has to be g....
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.... The Order does treat chira and muri as distinct from rice and paddy. They are also treated as "products" as distinguished from "forms" of rice. This treatment may not be helpful in interpreting the Sales Tax Act-an earlier measure-but he utilises it for showing the legislative description of chira and muri as products of rice in another Act. He has also relied upon Kayani and Co. v. Commissioner of Sales Tax(1), in support of his contention. In this case also, the words "rice in all forms" were construed. It was held that the word "form" would connote a visible aspect such as shape or mode in which a thing exists or manifests itself, species, kind or variety. Rice in all forms would mean all kinds or varieties of rice, such as broken rice, kichidi rice, pichodi rice and even rice flour but not cooked rice. He strenuously disputes the correctness of the view of the Com- missioner that chira and muri are forms of rice, and not its products. Mr. Ghose, the learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that both chira and muri are mere forms of paddy. Mere boiling and frying with a view to flattening and soaking and boiling for removal of husks do not introduce any real change in the ....
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....c.; also seeds or grains so produced either in their original state or commercially prepared. A pre- pared foodstuff of grain as oatmeal or flaked corn, used specially with milk or cream as a breakfast food, is also "cereal" (Italics are mine). If oatmeal and flaked corn are cereals, there would be ample justification for describing chira and muri as cereals. The processes to which foodgrain is to be subjected to make it ready for use at the breakfast table are not less elaborate than those that paddy undergoes to be converted into chira and muri. If the expression "cereal" is used in this broad and comprehensive sense in which it would include readily edible food, which has been pre- pared by merely conditioning a "cereal" in its original state, both chira and muri would be covered by item No. 1 of the third Schedule as they retain the quality of the cereal whose original state has ceased to exist. Even boiled rice may thus be described as a cereal though cooked rice of every description may not be described as cereal. Pulao is one instance of cooked rice which it would be difficult to describe as a cereal. It has other ingredients. The wider sense in which the expression "cereal....
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....exempted, it is difficult to conceive that chira and muri were intended to be taxed. Item No. 1 when seen in the light of the exceptions, also lends some support to the case of the assessee. Cereals including rice are exempt except when sold in sealed containers. This exception applies to other articles like salt, water, sugar, ghee etc. The indication that these excep- tions give is that where cereals are sold along with other commercial articles, they lose the privilege of exemption. Barring this, if they remain cereals unmixed and unadulterated with other commercial commodities, and are capable of being described as cereals, they remain exempt. In view of the foregoing discussion, the weight of reason seems to be in favour of the petitioner but what really clinches the matter is the fact that even if the expression "cereal " in item No. 1 of Schedule 3 is taken as a word of doubtful import in the context in which it occurs, by reason of the fact that it is capable of use in a limited and also in a com- prehensive sense, the benefit of doubt has to go to the assessee according to recognised canons of interpretation. If there is any ambiguity or doubt in the expression of the leg....