2002 (8) TMI 823

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....O.P. No. 3780 of 2002 is Olympus 2000 Mobile C-Arm Multi Procedures Table with accessories costing Rs. 3,10,000 and the item involved in O.P. No. 3687 of 2002 is described as table for the Department of Orthopaedics and Urology costing Rs. 2,50,000. The items were detained at sales tax check-post, Walayar while on transport to hospitals in Kerala. The petitioner contends that the items in both the cases do not constitute furniture in the ordinary sense of the term, but are medical equipments or hospital equipments used only for the purpose of surgery. The leaflet describing the item and its detailed description are contained in exhibit P3 produced along with original petition. The Olympus 2000 Mobile C-Arm Multi Procedures Table referred in....

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..../pads 2 Nos. Adjustable shoulder supports w/pads 2 Nos. Spare clamps 2 Nos. Knee lift attachment for tibia proc. 1 No." It is unnecessary to go into further details. 3.. The contention of the petitioner is that these are high value medical equipments which are used only by hospitals for the purpose of surgery. According to counsel, the essential purpose is not that of furniture, but that of the facilities provided thereto. It is held by the Allahabad High Court in Imperial Surgico Industries v. Commissioner, Sales Tax, Uttar Pradesh [1969] 23 STC 201 that the term furniture is not to be given any artificial or technical definition, but should be given a meaning which is known to the trader as well as the consumer dealing with....

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....d furniture for the purpose of factory also should be treated as furniture. That was the case of a table specially designed for a match factory. The Madras High Court held that it is an item of furniture even though it is designed for the purpose of the factory. Of course the item involved in that case cannot be compared to that of a surgical table involved here with modern electronic accessories used in the assistance of surgery and treatment. It is a well-settled position in series of decisions of the Supreme Court and various High Courts that the entries in the Schedule to the Act have to be given their popular meaning, i.e., the meaning attached to the item by traders dealing in the goods and consumers using the same. No one can procure....