TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2004 (11) TMI 553
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....er Notification No. ST-II-1376/X-902(63)-50, dated April 1, 1968. The assessing authority levied the tax on the aforesaid sales at 10 per cent and held that under the Notification No. ST-II-1376/X-902(63)-50, dated April 1, 1968, the sale of rapeseed oil and mustard oil are liable to tax at one per cent and not the turnover of refined rapeseed oil and refined mustard oil. First appeal filed by the applicant was rejected. Tribunal also rejected the second appeal, filed by the applicant. Heard learned counsel for the parties. Learned counsel for the applicant submitted that refined rapeseed oil and refined mustard oil are rapeseed oil and mustard oil. They are only one of the forms of rapeseed oil and mustard oil. He submitted that rapeseed....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....reported in [1960] 11 STC 827 the honourable Supreme Court held as follows: "Nor is the learned Advocate-General well-founded in his submission that the processing of the oil in order to render it more acceptable to the customer by improving its quality would render the oil a commodity other than 'groundnut oil' within the meaning of the rule. For instance, if the oil as extracted were kept still in a vessel for a period of time, the sediment normally present in the oil would settle at the bottom leaving a clear liquid to be drawn out. The learned Advocate-General cannot go so far as to say, that if this physical process was gone through, the oil that was decanted from the sediment, which it contained when it issues out of the....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....Supreme Court also observed that: "But neither mere absorption of other matter, nor inter-molecular changes necessarily affect the identity of a substance as ordinarily understood. Thus for instance there are absorptions of matter and inter-molecular changes which deteriorate the quality or utility of the oil and it might be interesting to see if such additions and alterations could be taken to render it any the less 'oil'. Groundnut oil when it issues out of the expresser normally contains a large proportion of unsaturated fatty acids--oleic and linoleic--which with other fatty acids which are saturated are in combination with glycerin to form the glyceride which is oil. The unsaturated fatty acids are unstable, i.e., they ar....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... held as follows: "It may be remembered that the acids and chemicals that are added to the groundnut oil in order to prepare vegetable oil are added to it with a view to refine the oil. It becomes clearer and more acceptable as an edible oil; but the process of refining does not change the nature and character of the commodity. It remains groundnut oil." The above decision of the division Bench has been affirmed by the apex court in the case of Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Prag Ice and Oil Mills reported in [1991] 80 STC 403. The apex court has held as follows: "The High Court following the judgment of this court in Tungabhadra Industries Ltd. v. Commercial Tax Officer [1960] 11 STC 827 (SC), came to the conclusion that th....