2006 (3) TMI 696

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....ection 15 of the Madhya Pradesh Vanijyik Kar Adhiniyam, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as "the Adhiniyam") and specified in the second column of Schedule I at serial Number 16. In Writ Petition No. 11791 of 2005 the petitioner has prayed for quashing of order dated December 2, 2004 annexure P1 passed in Revision No. 180/Central/2004 by the Additional Commissioner, Commercial Tax, Jabalpur, whereby he has been directed to pay commercial tax on the sale and purchase of singhada for the assessment year 2000-01. In all these petitions the petitioners deal in sale and purchase of singhada. According to them, they were initially exempted from payment of commercial tax by the respondents on singhada but fro the assessment year 2001-02 they were a....

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....inghada whereas singhada specified and notified in the list of kirana goods in Schedule II of the Adhiniyam relates to "dried" singhada. The question, therefore, for determination before me is whether singhada irrespective of its being "dried" is taxable under the provisions of the Adhiniyam. Section 15 of the Adhiniyam, which relates to tax-free goods, reads as under: "15. Tax-free goods.--(1) No tax shall be payable on the sales or purchases of goods specified in the second column of Schedule I, subject to the restrictions and exceptions, if any, set out in the corresponding entry in the third column thereof. (2) The State Government may in respect of any goods, by notification, amend Schedule I, so as to include therein any goods not ....

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....s and onion. Further singhada, though an agricultural produce, cannot be said to be a vegetable. Singhada is a crop, which is sown annually and has its root in the bed of tank, which is considered to be agricultural land for the purposes of growing this crop. (See 16 Nagpur Law Journal 277, Ghanshyamsingh Gupta and others: Aiyar's Advanced Law Lexicon 2005 Edition, Book No. 4 at page No. 4378, published by Wadhwa). Vegetables are those items that are normally grown in kitchen gardens (See Ramavatar Budhaiprasad v. Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Akola [1961] 12 STC 286 (SC) ; AIR 1961 SC 1325). Perusal of this entry also reveals that where the intention was to exclude a dried item of the goods mentioned it is specifically so provided like ging....