TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1960 (11) TMI 98
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.... Sales Tax Officer disallowed this claim holding that Durries were not included in handloom cloth. The assessee preferred a revision application before the Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, Rajasthan. That officer also rejected the assessee's claim on the ground that the term "cloth" is not a word of art and Durries are not included in the Notification No. F. 21(7)/SR/55 dated 14th April, 1955. On an application by the assessee that the Durries woven on handloom stood covered by the exemption certificate granted under the Notification relating to handloom cloth, the Commissioner has submitted the following question for answer: "Whether under the facts and circumstances of the case the turnover of Durries has been rightly included in the....
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....assessee claims exemption are woven exactly in the same manner as any other handloom cloth. The technique employed in making Durry or other handloom cloth being identical, Durry is a handloom cloth intended for covering the floor, stairs etc., and, therefore, stands exempted. The learned counsel urged that the Commissioner adopted the dictionary meaning of the word "cloth" but stopped short by not giving full effect to the word "covering". The learned counsel further argued that even assuming that the expression handloom cloth was capable of more than one meaning in a fiscal statute that interpretation should be given which is favourable to the subject. He relied on State of Bombay v. R.S. Phadtare[1956] 7 S.T.C. 495; A.I.R. 1956 Bom. 496.,....
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....to indicate the process by which the cloth was manufactured. There is no disagreement between the parties that Durries for which exemption is claimed are also manufactured by the same process as any other handloom cloth. Therefore, the word that requires closer examination is "cloth" and the significance of the clauses which follow it. The golden rule is that the words of a statute must Prima facie be given their ordinary meaning. In R. v. Peters[1886] 16 Q.B.D. 636 (641)., said Lord Coleridge: "I am quite aware that dictionaries are not to be taken as authoritative exponents of the meanings of the words used in Acts of Parliament, but it is a well known rule of courts of law that words should be taken to be used in their ordinary sense,....
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.... on handloom is put that the conflict accentuates. The assessee maintains that the word "covering" is wide enough to include a "Durry" as it covers a floor or a stair-case while the department resists such a wide application. It is, therefore, clear that if we give cloth and covering their generic import, "Durry" would appear to be included in the term. On the contrary, if a narrower interpretation is put, "Durry" would appear to be excluded. The learned counsel for the assessee invoked the aid of the doctrine that it is a fiscal matter and the beneficial construction should be put. We are unable to agree. As we have already noticed the item which we are called upon to interpret is an exemption pursuant to the provisions of section 4(2) ....