TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2005 (2) TMI 790
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....al purposes and not for the purposes of carrying passengers or goods and as such in the case of tractor there is liability to pay additional tax and surcharge and is not covered by the notifications dated May 22, 2004 issued under sections 5(4) and 6(2) of the Bihar Finance Act, (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") making amendment in the Schedule attached to the Finance (Commercial Taxes) Department Notification S.O. No. 128 dated July 27, 2000, by which light, medium and heavy motor vehicles with four or more wheels have been exempted from payment of additional tax and surcharge. Copies of the said notifications have been annexed as annexures 1 and 2 to C.W.J.C. No. 16128 of 2004. 3.. The first submission advanced on behalf of the peti....
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....ections 11 and 12 of the Act and as such the notifications in question regarding exemption will not include tractor thus entitling to it the benefits of exemption. Alternatively, he submitted that if his first submission is not accepted, then while interpreting the entry it should be seen as to how the word is understood in common parlance and as the tractor is never used for the purpose of carrying goods or passengers, it cannot be treated as motor vehicle for the purpose of exemption of additional tax and surcharge under the Bihar Finance Act. 5.. To appreciate the respective submissions, certain provisions and notifications are relevant to be quoted. Section 6 of the Act reads as follows: "6. Charge of additional tax.--Notwithstanding ....
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.... (2) The State Government, may by notification and subject to such conditions and restrictions, as it may impose, exempt from the levy of additional tax gross turnover in respect of any goods or class or description of goods." 6. Section 11 of the Act mentions about point or points in the series of sales at which the sales tax shall be levied. 7. Section 12 of the Act speaks of rate of tax which provides general rate of tax for all taxable turnover. It also empowers the State Government to increase or lower down the rate of tax on taxable turnover by issuance of notifications. The State Government has issued notifications from time to time and has also amended the notifications. For the purpose of present case, notification dated July 27....
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.... notification shall come into force from the date of its issue. 10. As we are discussing with the taxing statute, law is very clear that it has to be construed strictly and nothing is to be added or subtracted. There is nothing like intendment of Legislature and once there is ambiguity, view should be taken in favour of the subject. In this connection, I am tempted to refer to the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry v. State of Andhra Pradesh, reported in AIR 2000 SC 2905; (2000) 6 SCC 550, wherein in para 7 it has been held as follows: "7. It is trite law that a taxing statute has to be strictly construed and nothing can be read into it. In the classic passage from C....
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....r Distributors (P) Ltd. v. State of Bihar reported in [1995] 99 STC 441 at page 445; (1995) 5 SCC 593, in para 8, held as follows: "From a careful reading of section 6, it would be crystal clear that so far as charge of additional tax is concerned, this section is self-contained not only for charging additional tax but also for its exemption. Therefore, the exemption notifications specifically issued under section 7(3) will not cover charge of additional tax to enable the appellants to claim exemption from payment of additional tax. Even though the position is so clear, the learned counsel for the appellants argued that in the light of section 21, the turnover will be nil and, therefore, there is no scope for charging additional tax. This....
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....held by the Supreme Court in the case of Ramavatar Budhaiprasad v. Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Akola, reported in [1961] 12 STC 286, the word has to be understood in common parlance. In other words, it is to be construed as understood by user. It has been held by the Supreme Court as follows: ".......this word must be construed not in any technical sense nor from the botanical point of view but as understood in common parlance. It has not been defined in the Act and being a word of every day use it must be construed in its popular sense meaning 'that sense which people conversant with the subject-matter with which the statute is dealing would attribute to it. It is to be construed as understood in common language." 15.. Now coming to the....