TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2005 (12) TMI 545
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....idue during refining of crude petroleum and the said product is purchased as raw material from Graphite India Limited, Phulwaria, P.O. Barauni, District-Begusarai (Bihar). The petitioner informed the assessing authority on September 2, 2005 that he is importing "calcined petroleum coke" which does not fall within the purview of "the U.P. Tax on Entry of Goods Act". However, the assessing authority passed an order on September 26, 2005, relying upon the apex court judgment in the case of India Carbon Ltd. v. Superintendent of Taxes, Gauhati [1971] 28 STC 603, copy of which is annexure 2 to the petition. Controversy, in the instant case between the petitioner and the assessing authority depends upon interpretation of "entry 17" mentioned in the Schedule notified under section 4(1) of the U.P. Tax on Entry of Goods Act. The petitioner has filed an extract of the said Schedule as annexure 3 to the petition. Complete text of the Schedule, however, is part of the "compilation" of "material and judgment " filed by the petitioner in this case. For convenience, said Schedule is reproduced below: "Schedule of the U.P. Tax on Entry of....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....he aforesaid judgment is reproduced: "Section 14 declares, inter alia, that coal including coke in all its forms constitutes goods which are of special importance in inter-State trade or commerce. Section 15 of the Central Act as it stood at the relevant time was in the following terms: S. 15. "Every sales tax law of a State shall, inso far as it imposes or Authorises the imposition of a tax on the sale or purchase of declared Goods, be subject to the following restrictions and conditions, Namely,:- (a) the tax payable under that law in response of any sale or purchase of such goods inside the State shall not exceed (two per cent) of the sale or purchase price thereof, and such tax shall not be levied at more than one stage: (b)... It may be mentioned that by Amending Act 13 of 1966, 3 per cent was substituted for 2 per cent with effect from July 1, 1966. It is not disputed that if petroleum coke is covered by clause (i) of section 14 which reads 'coal including coke in all its forms' the State was not competent to levy tax at a rate exceeding the one given in section 15(a) of the Central Act. Before the High Court it was common ground that petroleum coke i....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....er contends that item No. 21 in the Schedule in question wherein expression used "coke" should be read and understood as it is understood and received by general public in day-today use or its commercial purposes without adding or extracting anything therefrom. It is further submitted that expression "coal" used in the Schedule in question cannot and should not be interpreted by taking external help; viz., with reference to "expression" used in other statutes or control order. Case of the petitioner is that the words ". . . .including coke in all its forms" are conspicuously absent while the entry "coal" finds place in the Schedule in question. Absence of words "including coke in all its forms" while describing entry 17 is conspicuous and reflects clear intention of the Legislature/State Government not to include "coke". Carrying his argument further it is contended that "coal" and "coke" are two different commodities/substances distinctly understood and dealt with differently by all those persons dealing with the two commodities. In support of his argument learned counsel for the petitioner ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....f coke (put a~on the fire). 2.. The New International Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary: Coal: (kol) n. 1 A black, brittle, compact, amorphous substance of variable physical and chemical composition, produced by the carbonisation of prehistoric vegetation: found in beds or veins in the earth and used as fuel; the principal varieties are bituminous coal, anthracite, and lignite. 2. A piece of coal as broken for use; such pieces collectively; in Great Britain commonly used in the plural. 3. A fragment of burned wood; charcoal. Coal may appear as a combination form in hyphemes or in solidemes, or in two-word phrases, as in: Coal ashes coal-dark coal-heaver Coal barge coal-dealer coal-laden Coalbin coal-dealing coalmine Coal-black coal deposit coal-miner Coal-blue coal-digger coal-mining Coalbox coal-digging coalmonger Coal bunker coal district coal-producing Coal-burning coal-eyed coal-rich Coal-consumer coal-fired coal strata Coal-consuming coal furnace coalyard Coke: (kok) n. Slang Cocaine. 3.. The Concise Oxford Dictionary: Coal: n. & v. n. 1a. a hard or blackish rock, mainly carbonised plant matter, found in underground seams and used as a fuel and in the manuf....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... dictionary meanings and that so construed, charcoal would be included in the word 'coal'. Consequently, it answered the question in favour of the respondent. According to the High Court, charcoal would be covered by entry 1 of Part III of Schedule II and was taxable at 2 per cent. Hence this appeal by special leave. Entry 1 of Part III of Schedule II reads as follows: '1. Coal, including coke in all its forms 2 per cent.' Entry 1 of Part VI of the said Schedule reads as follows: '1. All other goods not included in Schedule I or any other part of this Schedule. 4 per cent'." We reproduce a passage from the aforesaid judgment which read: "The result emerging from these decisions is that while construing the word 'coal' in entry 1 of Part III of Schedule II, the test that would be applied is what would be the meaning which persons dealing with coal and consumers purchasing it as fuel would give to that word. A sales tax statute, being one levying a tax on goods, must, in the absence of a technical term or a term of science or art, be presumed to have used an ordinary term as coal according to the meaning ascribed to it in common parlanc....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... held that sugar included within its ambit all forms of sugar. 6.. In Tungabhadra Industries Ltd. v. Commercial Tax Officer [1960] 11 STC 827 (SC), the argument that conversion of raw groundnut oil from its raw state by absorption of the hydrogen atoms, into stearic acid which resulted in semi-solid condition resulted in product of groundnut oil was not accepted. 7.. 'Coke' is a hard, cellular mass of carbonaceous material. Coke is essentially a partially graphitised and cellular form of carbon. Coke is solid residue that remains after certain types of bituminous coals are heated to a high temperature out of contact with air until substantially all of the volatile constituents of the coal have been driven off. The residue consists principally of carbon.--Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 6 (1973 Edition, page 35)." The division Bench held that coal descendants shall be included in the expression "coal". We do not find as to how the aforesaid division Bench decision help the respondents. The expression used in the Schedule in the aforesaid case of Khanna Coke Industries [1987] 64 STC 335 (All) [App] was to the effect "coal" including "coke"....