TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1980 (10) TMI 197
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....1958, or not? (2) Whether, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the 'chunni' sold by the appellant is exempted under Notification No. 1069-V-ST dated 22nd April, 1963, issued under section 12 of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act or not?" The questions in all the cases being common, they are being decided by this common order. 3.. The applicant is a grain dealer and also runs a dal mill. He has been assessed to sales tax for the Diwali year 1964-65 under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as the Central Act), and for the Diwali year 1966-67 under the State Act as well as the Central Act. Sale of "chunni" included in his turnover was assessed to tax. Along with the statement of the case of the references, annexures B-1, B-2 and B-3 are the copies of the assessment orders. 4.. In first appeal against the assessment before the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax, the applicant-dealer contended that the sales tax was incorrectly levied on sale of "chunni". This contention was rejected by the Deputy Commissioner and he has, while deciding the point raised before him, observed (translated into English) that according to the appellant, he ha....
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.... follows: "Notification No. 1069-V-ST dated the 22nd April, 1963. In exercise of the powers conferred by section 12 of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958 (No. 2 of 1959), the State Government hereby exempts in whole the goods or class of goods mentioned in column (1) of the schedule below from the payment of tax for the period specified in column (2) thereof: SCHEDULE Description of goods Period (1) (2) 1. Husk of all grains, cereals, pulses and From 1.4.1963 to 31.3.1964. rice. 2. Bran. 1. Period extended from time to time and 31.3.1967 substituted vide Notification No. 861-457-V-ST dated 30.3.1966." Taking into consideration this noti....
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....No. 16, that is to say, as it is fodder, we should answer the points referred to us in favour of the applicant. Similarly, he submits that "chunni" will amount to bran and as such, the notification dated 22nd April, 1963, will be applicable to the case of the applicant and question No. (2) referred to this Court should be answered in favour of the applicant. The interpretation put by the Tribunal in second appeal and the assessing authority and the first appellate authority should be set aside. It was submitted before us as it was submitted before the first appellate authority that "chunni" is nothing but a cattle feed. It cannot be used for human consumption. It was submitted that even small particles of pulses which can be detected in "chunni" of moong and tunwar are only useful as "cattle feed" and not fit for human consumption and it is given along with fodder as cattle feed. There was no challenge before us for the discussion made by the appellate authority when it held that "chunni" is different from "bhusi". Similarly, the "chunni" is different from "bran". Even otherwise, we have considered the submission made by the learned counsel for the applicant to hold that the exe....
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....eeds, such as soyabeans, field peas, horse beans (broad beans) and peanuts. The legume seeds are all high in protein, and soyabeans and peanuts are also so high in fat, or oil, that they are important sources of oil for human food and industrial purposes. From the processing of soyabeans, peanuts and other oil-rich seeds for oil production, various oil meals are secured as by-products. In the older methods of processing these seeds, the fat, or oil, was removed by subjecting the crushed seeds to great pressure in hydraulic presses or in continuous screwlike expellers, but the oil meals thus produced still contained 5% or more of fat. In the newer solvent process, oils are extracted from the crushed seeds with a fat solvent, and the oil meals may contain less than 1% fat. While solvent-process meals have very little fat, they are a little higher in protein than the hydraulic-or-expeller-process oil meals, and are satisfactory feeds. In the case of cotton-seeds and peanuts, which have woody hulls or husks, these are generally removed before the oil is separated in order to secure a more complete recovery of the oil and to produce a by-product with greater feeding value. Where t....
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....lar area. All green, actively growing pasture crops are fair to rich in protein and high in vitamins. When pasture plants become mature and weathered, their feeding value is greatly reduced. Next in importance among roughages are the various kinds of hay, which is merely a grass or legume forage crop preserved by drying. Legume hay such as alfalfa or clover is much higher in protein, in calcium and usually in vitamin A value than is grass hay. Late cut hay, either legumes or grasses cut in the late bloom or seed stage of maturity, is worth much less than hay cut before the plants are in bloom or in the early bloom stage as it is less palatable, much higher in fibre and lower in protein and vitamins. Early cut and well-cured grass hay may even equal average legume hay in feeding value, except for the lower protein content. The use of special barn-drying procedures whereby air, sometimes heated, is blown through the partially dried hay to complete the drying process makes it possible to produce excellent quality hay even during rainy periods with little or no weather damage. Barn drying of hay often avoids the extensive loss of nutrients from leaching by rain and from prolonged ex....
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....he cattle and was required to be mixed with grass, etc. On this ground it was further claimed that the question should be reframed or that the Tribunal be asked to make a fresh reference. The Division Bench negatived the contentions on two grounds, namely, that the question as framed by the Tribunal was not objected to by the other party and this Court was bound to answer the question as framed. Secondly, it was held that it made no difference as to whether the cattle feed could be given to the cattle directly or it could only be given after being mixed with grass, etc., as it could not be doubted that it was a concentrate and not a roughage, and the only question which arose for decision was as to whether even as a concentrate the product stood included in the entry 'fodder except cotton seed and oil-cakes'. 4.. In the Sales Tax Act, 1947, which was substituted by the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, the relevant entry was 'oil-cakes and other cattle feeds'. In the new Act, the expression 'cattle feed' which is inclusive of every thing that is fed to the cattle including fodder, was substituted by the entry 'fodder except cotton seed and oil-cakes'. It is a matter of common knowledg....
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....ance is applied to the roughages only, but it felt that when the legislature excluded the expression 'cotton-seed and oil-cakes' which are not roughages, it was clear that every thing that is used as cattle feed, except cotton-seed and oil-cakes, stood included in the expression 'fodder' by necessary implication. It was on this reasoning that 'raskatlota' which is in common parlance not included in 'fodder' was held to be exempt from sales tax. The Division Bench found it difficult to accept the abovesaid proposition, namely, that exclusion of cotton-seed and oil-cakes from 'fodder' every thing and any thing that was fed to the cattle stood included in the expression 'fodder'. The Division Bench, therefore, referred to a larger Bench the question already referred to. 5.. We have no hesitation in holding that the expression 'fodder' only includes roughages, such as, green grass, hay, bhusa, kadbi, etc., and it does not include oil-cakes, cotton-seed, concentrates, etc., even if they are included in the cattle feed. We have already referred to the entry that occurred in the C. P. and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947, which was to the effect 'oil-cakes and cattle feeds', an entry of large....
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....s which are said to occur in it, one cannot derive these provisions by implication from a proviso (See Governor-General in Council v. Madura Municipality AIR 1949 PC 39). Again, though the natural presumption is that but for the proviso the enacting part of the section would have included the subject-matter of the proviso, often times provisos are inserted to allay fears or remove misapprehensions or by way of abundant caution. Lord Herschell in West Derby Union v. Metropolitan Life Assurance Society [1897] AC 647 (HL) observed: "........... I am satisfied that many instances might be given where provisos could be found in legislation that are meaningless because they have been put in to allay fears when these fears were absolutely unfounded, and when no proviso at all was necessary to protect the persons at whose instance they were inserted." It was again observed by the Privy Council in Meyappa Chetty v. Subramanian Chetty (1916) 43 IA 113 (PC) that in such cases the proviso has no effect whatsoever on the enactment and cannot be relied on as controlling the operative words. In Madanlal v. S. Changdeo Sugar Mills Ltd. AIR 1962 SC 1543 a passage from Craies on Statute Law to th....