TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1977 (3) TMI 147
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....umstances of the case, glass bangles (glass chudies) would be covered by entry No. 38 of the taxable list of goods other than luxury goods framed under the Orissa Sales Tax Act or they will be treated as unclassified goods?" 3.. The assessee-petitioner is a registered dealer and carries on business in glass bangles at Sambalpur town. His gross turnover of sales for the years 1968-69 and 1969-70 is not in controversy. Tax, however, was imposed on the sale of glass bangles for these two years at the rate of 7 per cent as specified goods under entry No. 38 against his claim that the sales should be taxed at the rate of 5 per cent as unclassified goods. Accordingly, there was an excess demand of tax of Rs. 1,839.47 and Rs. 2,053.05 for the a....
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.... of tax at 7 per cent or is an unclassified article liable to general rate of tax of 5 per cent, as claimed by the assessee. 5.. The first principle of construction is that if the provision of a statute is found to be unambiguous it must be construed literally. In construing a fiscal statute and in determining the liability of a subject to tax, one must have regard to the strict letter of the law and not merely to the spirit of the statute or the substance of the law. If a case is not covered within the four corners of the provisions of the taxing statute, no tax can be imposed by inference or by analogy or by trying to probe into the intentions of the legislature and by considering what was the substance of the matter. In case of a reas....
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.... section 5(1) of the Act containing a schedule of specified articles for which a revised and a higher rate of tax has been fixed. Both the notifications came into effect on 1st May, 1976. Entry No. 1 of the schedule of tax-free goods refers to bangles and provides that when the cost of the bangle is less than one rupee per pair, it will be tax-free. Entry No. 39 of the schedule of specified taxable goods of the other notification which is identical with entry No. 38 in question provides for a revised rate of tax of 10 per cent. Comparing entry No. 1 with entry No. 39 he argues that if bangle is treated as coming within entry No. 39, when all types and varieties of bangles, irrespective of their cost, would come within that entry. If so, it ....
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....se would ordinarily refer to articles made of glass. A plain reading of entry No. 38 also leads to the same result. The language of entry No. 38 indicates that bottles, lamps and lantern chimneys made of glass would be glassware if they were not excepted expressly therefrom. Obviously, bottles, lamps and lantern chimneys even according to common parlance theory cannot be considered as utensils, the restricted meaning attributed to glassware in the dictionary. This would indicate the legislative intent that "glassware" is to be understood in its widest sense and not in its restricted sense. If it had been otherwise, there would have been no necessity of expressly excluding bottles, lamps and lantern chimneys from the purview of "glassware". ....
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....he meaning of entry No. 15. Entry No. 15 ran as "glassware, domestic pottery and china excepting bottles and lamp and lantern chimneys". Their Lordships held that the expression "glassware" was wide enough to include all articles made of glass. They further added: "If there was any doubt whatsoever about the matter it must now be deemed to have been removed by the addition of the words 'excepting bottles and lamp and lantern chimneys' in entry No. 15". In the case of Commissioner of Sales Tax, U.P. v. Manohar Glass Works[1971] 27 S.T.C. 51., entry No. 10 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act was being construed. This entry ran as "glassware other than hurricane lantern chimneys, optical lenses and bottles". Their Lordships were considering the qu....