1964 (9) TMI 48

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.... 2.. The material facts are that the assessee Harichand Chandulal of Seoni is a dealer in grains, oil-seeds and "khowa". For the assessment period from 12th November, 1958, to 31st October, 1959, the Sales Tax Officer imposed on the assessee purchase tax under section 7 of the Act on sales of "khowa" of the value of Rs. 27,536-5-9. The assessee's contention was that as under entry No. 21 of Schedule I to the Act "khowa" was exempted from tax under section 10(1) of the Act, no purchase tax could be imposed on him on the sales of "khowa". This contention was negatived by the Sales Tax Officer as well as in first appeal against the order of the Sales Tax Officer. It was, however, accepted in second appeal by the Sales Tax Tribunal taking the....

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.....C. 113; A.I.R. 1956 S.C. 202., it has been held that exemption granted by section 5(2) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, being the creation of the statute, must be construed strictly. No doubt, an exemption from tax given by a statutory provision must be given full scope and amplitude and cannot be whittled down by importing limitations not inserted by the Legislature. But it is also well-settled that the exemption claimed must fall clearly within the language granting exemption. In Crawford's Statutory Construction it has been stated in paragraph 258 at page 506 that"Provisions providing for an exemption may be properly construed strictly against the person who makes the claim of an exemption. In other words, before an exemptio....

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....wa". It has the sweetness of milk and is used along with sugar in the preparation of many sweets and dishes. "Khowa" is no doubt a milk product, but it is not milk. What is exempted from tax under entry No. 21 is "milk" and not "milk products". It is noteworthy that wherever the Legislature intended to exempt milk product from taxation, it did so by specific enumeration in Schedule I of the product. Thus, item No. 32 of Schedule I makes a specific mention of "lassi". So also under item No. 47 of that Schedule "ghee" is exempted from tax. Both "ghee " and "lassi" are milk products. It is thus clear that the term "milk" as used in item No. 21 cannot be understood in a wide sense so as to include milk products. In our opinion, the view express....