TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2002 (10) TMI 749
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....l sales tax over and above 4 per cent. That prayer had been rejected by this Court by the decision of a division Bench in the case of Prema Traders v. State of Tamil Nadu (1995) 7 MTCR 70. 2.. On appeal to the apex Court, the matter was remanded to the High Court after setting aside that judgment. That order of remand directed this Court to direct the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal to analyse the provisions of clause (vi-a) of section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act with the help of botanical and/or technical evidence and in the light of the meanings that the descriptions in the entries carry in common parlance. This Court also was directed to decide as to whether "lentil " in the fourth entry in section 14(vi-a) of the Central Sales Tax A....
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....lentil" is not grown in the State and that there is no Tamil name for "lentil". The witness for the assessees stated that he did not know what is meant by "lentil". He stated that the pulse "masur" is cultivated in parts of Bihar and Orissa from where the merchants in this State make their purchases in small quantities and "peas" and "peas dhal" are purchased from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. 7.. The witness examined for the State deposed that "peas" and "peas dhal" are not covered by "lentil "; that "peas" and "lentil" are two different items. The parties also placed before the Tribunal extracts of the text book of Economic Botany, which was marked as exhibit A.1 and a note giving the distinguishing features of "peas" and "lentil" ....
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....report was made available to the assessees and the assessees' counsel has been heard further in the matter. Counsel has not been able to point out any error in the methodology adopted or in the conclusion reached by the Tribunal. We have no reason to disagree with that report of the Tribunal. The clear finding is that "peas" is not covered by the entry (iv) in section14(vi-a) and that "peas" is not "lentil". Admittedly, "peas" and "peas dhal" are not covered by any other entry in section 14(vi-a) of the Central Act. 10. Faced with this finding, counsel fell back on an argument which had been advanced earlier and which had not found favour with this Court and which argument is also plainly contrary to the law laid down by the ap....
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....s to be applied in determining whether the sale of a certain class of goods is subject to the levy of single point sales tax. With regard to the expression 'that is to say', our learned brother, Beg, J., who spoke for the court, observed: ' We think that the precise meaning of the words "that is to say" must vary with the context............ But, in the context of single point sales tax, subject to special conditions when imposed on separate categories of specified goods, the expression was apparently employed to specifically enumerate separate categories of goods on a given list. The purpose of such specification and enumeration in a statute dealing with sales tax at a single point in a series of sales would, very naturally, be to indic....
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....f using the words 'that is to say' in item (vi-a) of section 14 is to make it clear and fix the meaning of what is to be explained or defined". It was also held therein that those words are not used as a rule, to amplify the meaning and in the context of single point sales tax, the expression is meant to exhaustively enumerate the kind of goods in a given list. It was further held therein that the provisions of sections 14 and 15 of the Central Sales Tax Act being restrictions upon the plenary powers of the State Legislature to levy tax on sale/purchase of goods, must be construed strictly. It is only those goods which are expressly mentioned in the enumeration in section 14 that are to be regarded as "declared goods" and nothing must be re....