1970 (2) TMI 106

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....erences relate to the assessment years 1956-57 under the U.P. Sales Tax Act, and 1957-58 under the U.P. Sales Tax Act and the Central Sales Tax Act. The assessee manufactures and sells liquid gold. The assessee claimed that liquid gold was taxable either as bullion or specie or as an unclassified item. It was not a chemical. The assessing authority, however, did not accept this contention. He held that it was chemical and, as such, liable to tax at the rate of one anna per rupee and not at the rate of four annas per cent. either as bullion or specie or as an unclassified item. The Judge (Appeals) confirmed the finding and dismissed the assessee's appeals. The assessee filed three revisions but the same were also dismissed on the 12th Aug....

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.... the popular name of a product, which is not gold in liquid form. The product is obtained by chemically treating gold according to a set process. The gold contained in it cannot be recognised as metal. It is not used as bullion is. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1968, Volume 10, page 536-B, it has been stated that by far the largest single use for gold is as the backing for the world's currency. This is the monetary use. But gold is also used for art purposes. Its inertness, malleability and pleasing bright yellow colour have made gold valuable as an artistic material. It has also industrial usage. Where high reliability, corrosion resistance and high electrical conductivity are needed in electrical and electronic circuits, gold is employ....

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....ld, in our opinion, is a chemical and taxable as such. In Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh, Indore v. Jaswant Singh Charan Singh[1967] 19 S.T.C. 469 (S.C.)., the Supreme Court held that a sales tax statute, being one levying a tax on goods, must in the absence of a technical term or a term of science or art, be presumed to have used an ordinary term as "coal" according to the meaning ascribed to it in common parlance. The matter should be viewed from the angle of a merchant dealing in coal and a purchaser wanting to purchase it. It was held that "charcoal" was included within the term "coal ". In our opinion, the term "chemical" is a scientific term and its scientific background would be relevant. Further, as seen above, the man....