TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1969 (1) TMI 56
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....f tooth-powder under the name and style of Sarin Chemical Laboratory at Agra. The trade name under which the tooth-powder is marketed is Sarin Dant Manjan. There is no dispute about the turnover of this commodity. The dispute relates only to the rate of tax. The assessee's contention is that the turnover of his tooth-powder is liable to tax at the rate of 3 pies per rupee under section 3 of the Act while the Sales Tax Officer levied the rate of 0-1-0 per rupee. The Sales Tax Officer did not specify the reason for adopting this higher rate of tax, but apparently he did so treating the tooth-powder to be a commodity taxable at single point under section 3-A of the Act. Before the Judge (Appeals) the Sales Tax Officer stated that he had treated the tooth-powder to be an item of cosmetics falling within entry 6 of the Notification No. 905/X dated 31st March, 1956. The Judge (Appeals) held that the tooth-powder manufactured by the assessee was really a medicine and not an article of cosmetics. The Judge (Appeals) in arriving at the conclusion that the tooth-powder was a medicine was influenced by the fact that the ingredients out of which the tooth-powder was prepared were such as made ....
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....tes" has not been defined in the Act. We have, therefore, to ascertain its meaning from other sources. In the Webster's International Dictionary one of the meanings assigned to cosmetic is "a preparation to beautify or alter appearance of the body or for cleansing, colouring, conditioning or protecting skin, hair, nails, eyes or teeth." The same dictionary gives one of the meanings of "toilet" as "an act or process of dressing, especially formerly of dressing hair, and now usually cleansing and grooming of one's person." The word "toiletry" according to that dictionary, means "an article or preparation used in making one's toilet such as soap, lotion, cosmetic, tooth-paste, shaving cream, cologne, etc." According to the dictionary meaning tooth-powder can certainly be regarded both as an item of cosmetic and toilet. It is used for cleaning the teeth which is a part of the body. Apart from the dictionary meaning, the words "cosmetics and toilet requisites" have become words of everyday use, the meanings whereof are well understood. It is a matter of common knowledge that tooth-paste or tooth-powder is an essential item of toiletry in the modern life. The manufacturers of dentifrices....
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.... in a farm, and are used for the table. Consequently "betel leaves" could not be regarded as vegetables as it was sought to be exempted under item 6 of Schedule II of the C.P. and Berar Sales Tax Act. Other cases cited at the Bar related to such articles as plastic safety-razors, safety-razors and hairpins etc. These articles were held not to be articles of cosmetics or toilet requisites. It is not necessary to notice them in detail as they do not throw much light on the question before us. There are two cases, however, which deal directly with tooth-powder. The first is that of the Madras High Court in V.P. Somasundara Mudaliar v. State of Madras[1963] 14 S.T.C. 943. There the question before the Madras High Court was as to whether tooth-powder would come within the scope of item 51 of the First Schedule of the Madras Sales Tax Act which was in the following words: "Scents and perfumes, powders, snows, scented hair oils, scented sticks, cosmetics and toilet requisites, except soap." Applying the principle of ejusdem generis, the court held that toothpowder could not be included in the kind of goods enumerated in item No. 51 of the First Schedule because tooth-powder was most....
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..... 3. The rate of tax was fixed at 6 paise per rupee. Soap other than washing soap was placed separately at item No. 20 and was made taxable also at the rate of 6 paise per rupee. Thereafter there are several notifications relating to cosmetics and toilet requisites as also relating to soap. The rate of tax was finally raised to 10 paise per rupee in the case of cosmetics and toilet requisites while the rate of tax on soap was raised to 7 paise per rupee. Finally, we come to the two notifications issued on 1st November, 1966. By the first notification [ST-5621/X-900 (54)/65], the entry relating to "cosmetics and toilet requisites" was changed to "cosmetics and toilet requisites excluding tooth-pastes, tooth-powder and other dentifrices" taxable at the rate of 10 per cent. Under the second notification [ST-5621-A/X-900 (54)/65], tooth-paste, tooth-powder and other dentifrices were listed as a separate item taxable at the rate of 6 per cent. The result of these notifications was that cosmetics and toilet requisites other than tooth-paste, tooth-powder and other dentifrices were taxable at 10 per cent. while tooth-paste, tooth-powder and other dentifrices etc. were subjected to a lower....