1961 (7) TMI 69

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....x at the first purchase point. Overruling the objection, the department levied tax on the purchase of wheat in the view that Schedule III is inapplicable to wheat. Hence the revision. Schedule III catalogues the commodities in respect of which a single point purchase tax only is leviable under section 5(3) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. One of the articles included in the Schedule is "millets". The point for consideration is whether the expression "millets" comprehends "wheat". The department thought that wheat is outside the pale of the expression "millets". On the other hand, the contention pressed upon us by Sri Seshapani for the petitioner is that the word "millets" is comprehensive enough to cover wheat. It is urged....

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...... The stalk of all the species resembles a jointed reed, having at every joint a long broad leaf which embraces the stalk with its base. An abundance of small grains are set round a compact spike at the top of the stalk. The stalk itself is filled with a Saccharine juice. Millet is cultivated largely in the southern parts of Europe, but it is grown most extremely in the East Indies, China, Arabia, Syria, Egypt and Nubia, where it is used as food for men; but in this country, it is used chiefly for feeding poultry and domestic animals." It is difficult to apply this description to wheat. Wheat is used in England chiefly for human consumption and not for feeding poultry and domestic animals. What is stated about "millets" in the Oxford Dict....

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....than wheat, and in Egypt, perhaps, surpass all other crops in importance." It is seen that the distinction is between rice and wheat and that wheat is not a kind of millets. Sankaranarayana's Dictionary seems to restrict the meaning of millet to a kind of jonna or korra. So also the Brown's Dictionary. It is unnecessary to refer to the other dictionaries which give the same meaning to the word "millets". The Oil Seeds Expert also gives a list of commodities which go in the name of "millets", namely, (1) maize (mokka jonna), (2) grain sorghum (jonna), (3) finger millet (raghulu), (4) pearl millet (sajja) and (5) fox tail millet (korra). Wheat is not included in the list. In the light of the meanings given in the various dictionaries mentio....