TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1986 (1) TMI 368
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....rcharge on the tax levied on the sales turnover of G.I. pipes. This claim was rejected by the assessing authority. The appeals before the Additional Deputy Commissioner and the further appeals before the Tribunal had been decided against the petitioner. 2.. The case of the petitioner is that G.I. pipes are declared goods within the meaning of sections 14 and 15 of the Central Sales Tax Act and also the Second Schedule of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, because, the G.I. pipes dealt in by the assessee are only steel tubes and it is contended that steel tubes popularly known as G.I. pipes come within the meaning of section 14(iv)(xi) of the Central Sales Tax Act corresponding to item 3(ii)(k) of the Second Schedule of the General S....
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....(iv) iron and steel, that is to say,- (i)................................. (ii)................................. (iii)................................. (iv)................................. (v)................................. (vi)................................. (vii)................................. (viii)................................. (ix)................................. (x)................................. (xi) steel tubes, both welded and seamless, of all diameters and lengths including tube fittings." Section 15 states that every sales tax law of a State shall, in so far as it imposes or authorises the imposition of a tax on the sale or purchase of declared goods, be subject to the restrictions....
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....ron and steel" as shown in section 14(iv) of the Central Act. The Director-General of Technical Development advised the Government that G.I. pipes, black pipe, black and galvanised pipes and tubes would fall within the scope of item (xi) of section 14(iv) as the steel tubes, etc., and this advice of the Directorate was brought to the notice of the sales tax authorities in the State for their guidance. 7.. A comprehensive list of specified declared iron and steel goods have been brought under the head "iron and steel" in section 14(iv). The enumeration is not illustrative but exhaustive. It is clear that even each sub-category of a sub-item retains its identity as a commercially separate item for the purpose of sales tax so long as it ret....
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.... sales, so long as they retain their identity as goods of a particular type." 8.. It is therefore necessary to determine whether there is complete identity of the commercial commodity when G.I. pipes are referred to as steel tubes, for, each of the categories falling under "iron and steel" constitute a new species of commercial commodity. Following the Supreme Court decision in State of Tamil Nadu v. Pyare Lal Malhotra [1976] 37 STC 319 (SC), the Madras High Court has, in Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes v. Mohammed Ibrahim Marakayar Sons [1980] 46 STC 22, held that galvanised plain sheets, referred to as G.P. sheets or C.R. sheets, would not fall within the category of "iron and steel" under entry (iv) of the Second Schedule to t....
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....7 STC 583 (SC) also does not advance the assessee's case. What the Supreme Court said in that case is that the Ministry of Finance is intimately conversant not only with the policy of legislation for the purpose of implementation of the provisions of the Central Act but is also familiar with the nature and quality of the commodities as also their use from time to time and, therefore, if such an authority issued a notification including certain commodities under the head of "oil-seeds", as defined under the Central Act, there is nothing wrong in preferring such an opinion as good evidence, while stating that such notification has no statutory force and as such is not binding on the Sales Tax Officer. Merely because there had been an attempt ....