TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1995 (1) TMI 334
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....es Tax Act, 1959, as in force till June 30, 1981. 2.. The assessee is a manufacturer of all types of thinners, lacquers and industrial coatings. He submitted his return of turnover under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 ("the Act") for the period from October 22, 1977 to November 7, 1980 to the Sales Tax Officer. In the said return, it was claimed by the assessee that sales of "tol thinner and auto thinner " amounting to Rs. 1,87,880 made by it to one M/s. Bhor Industries Limited against T forms were liable to be assessed to tax at concessional rates, as they were chemicals and, as such, covered by entry 39(i) of the notification issued under section 41 of the Act. It was pointed out that these items had been claimed by the purchaser, M/s. B....
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....ULE "C" Serial No. Description of goods Rate of sales tax in paise in the rupee. Rate of purchase tax in paise in the rupee Period of operation. 1. 39(a) Synthetic pigments, other than textile dyes. Twelve Twelve 1-10-1972 to 30-6-1981 2. (b) All kinds of paints, other than those specified in entry 40 in this Schedule but including distempers, cement colours or paints, powder paints, stiff paste paints, enamels and liquid paints whether ready for use or not. Twelve Twelve 1-10-1972 to 30-6-1981 3. (c) Varnishes, vegetable, turpen-tine, paint removers and stainers of all kinds. Twelve Twelve 1-10-1972 to 30-6-1981 4. (d) All kinds of vehicles diluents and thinners including natural and synthetic drying and semi-drying ....
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....under entry 39(d) to the Schedule C to the Act, it would fall under entry 22 of the Schedule E as claimed by the assessee. The determination of the controversy therefore, depends upon the interpretation of entry 39(d) of Schedule C to the Act. According to the assessee, "tol thinners" and "auto thinners" are not "thinners" which are used *Here italicised. in paint industry-these are in fact, "chemicals" used for dissolving rubber for the manufacture of leather cloth. The case of the assessee is that these items do not fall under entry 39(d) of Schedule C, because items mentioned therein are only items used in the paint industry or items used with paints and "tol thinners" and "auto thinners", which are chemicals used for dissolving rubber....
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...."vehicles" does not have any relevance whatsoever in the context of entry 39(d). It is well-known that a word has no absolute meaning. It is used in different senses according to its context, and the dictionary gives all the meanings of a word. The primary meaning of the word varies with its setting or context and with the subject-matter to which it is applied. Shorn of the context, the words by themselves are slippery customers. The courts therefore, have to select the particular meaning which would be relevant to the context in which it has to interpret that word. 5.. It is obvious from a reading of entry 39 that the word "vehicles", which precedes the words "thinners and diluents", does not and cannot mean "medium of thought" as suggest....
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....ddition of an organic liquid having no solvent power to a paint or lacquer to reduce viscosity and achieve suitable application properties.........." "Thinner" has been defined therein as: "A hydrocarbon (naphtha) or oleoresinous solvent (turpentine) used to reduce the viscosity of paints to appropriate working consistency usually just prior to application. In this sense a thinner is a liquid diluent, except that it has active solvent power on the dissolved resin......" In McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, "diluent" has been described thus: "Diluent (CHEM): An inert substance added to some other substance or solution so that the volume of the latter substance is increased and its concentration per unit volume is d....
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.... use to which the goods can be put. There is no dispute about the fact that the particular use to which it is applied in the hands of a special customer is not determinative of the nature of the goods. It is its general or predominant user which might determine the category in which the article would fall. Applying the above test also, it is obvious that "tol thinner" and "auto thinner" are not "vehicles diluents and thinners", and hence they would not fall under entry 39(d) of Schedule C. 8.. The controversy may be examined from one more angle. Entry 39 enumerates a number of items in the four clauses thereof. A bare look at those items clearly goes to show that each one of them falls in the category of pigments, paints, varnishes and dil....