TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1989 (1) TMI 339
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....nly an agricultural produce and so, not liable for assessment. This plea was negatived by the assessing authority, the appellate authority and by the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal. The Tribunal referred to its earlier decision in T.A. Nos. 971 and 972 of 1983 dated 7th April, 1987 and held that rubber trees are taxable under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act. Aggrieved by the said decision, in T.A. Nos. 416 and 417 of 1984 dated 5th November, 1987, the assessee has come up in revisions. 2.. We heard counsel for the revision-petitioner/assessee. The main plea advanced before the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal and before us is that rubber tree is an agricultural produce and it is not "timber " and according to counsel for the revision-petition....
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....y: a beam, or large piece of wood in a framework, as of a house, ship, etc.: familiarly, a wooden object or part..." In Law Lexicon, by Ramanatha Iyer, at page 1281, "timber" is described as follows: "Timber. Wood fitted for building, or other such like use; in a legal sense it extends to oak, ash, and elm, etc. (Tomlins Law Dic.). By this word is meant (in England) great wood, that is to say, trees which serve for building or reparation of houses, such as oak, ash, and elm of the age of twenty years and upwards. (1 Cruise's Digest. 4th Ed., Vol. I, p. 116, S. 5; Ency. of the Laws of England.) The word 'timber' of commerce is squared sticks of wood used in building. The trees from which they were cut became known as 'timber trees'. Th....
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.... 41 are used in the widest sense as given in the definition to be found in section 2 and not in the narrow and restricted sense. [106 IC 790; 29 Cr LJ 198; AIR 1928 Lah 80 (Lal Badshah v. Emperor).] " In Stroud's Judicial Dictionary, at page 2637, timber is described as follows: "Timber. (1) By the term 'timber' is meant properly such trees only as are fit to be used in building and repairing houses; thus oak, ash, and elm trees are considered 'timber' in all places, and under whatsoever circumstances they are grown (Co. Litt. 53a). But only trees of not less 6 inches in diameter or 2 feet girth (allowing than for irregularities of shape) appear to be reckoned or considered as 'timber' (Whitty v. Dillon 2 F & F 67) [Woodf. (24th ed.) 745....
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....n the passage extracted from Woodfall, viz., that to bring trees, not usually regarded as 'timber', within that word they must by the custom be 'used for the purpose of building'. Yet it would seem that that at least is an important element in such a construction............." 5.. In the light of the extended meaning given to the word "timber", as could be seen from Law Lexicon by Ramanatha Iyer and Stroud's Judicial Dictionary, we are unable to hold that in Kerala, rubber trees will not come within the term "timber". A large majority of common people use arecanut trees, coconut trees, bamboos, etc., for building houses and "huts" for habitation. Rubber trees can also be used for the said purpose. In this view, we hold that rubber trees ....