TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1986 (2) TMI 58
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....as to be eligible for exemption of sales tax under Section 10 of the said Act." 2. The process of manufacture of 'felt' adopted in the appellants' factory has been described in the order of the Commissioner of Sales Tax, dated January 25, 1983. The raw material consisting of woollen fibres is first mixed thoroughly and thereafter carded on a carding machine, which process results in the laying of the fibres in a combed condition in a uniform direction. The combed fibres in the shape of a web layer are then subjected to the process of hardening in a machine having an eccentric motion; the carded webs are put through two layers of cloth and passed through a steam chest. This results in the web/wool layer being converted in the form of a sheet, which is then subjected to the process of milling to impart to it necessary tensile strength and shrinkage. For this purpose, the sheet is put in a machine, which has two rows of contra-rotating rollers to provide the necessary felting action to the sheet. The sheets run in the machine till the desired shrinkage and density are achieved. After this the sheet is dried and trimmed at the ends and thereafter subjected to the process of calender....
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....MMISSIONER SALES TAX MADHYA PRADESH No. ST/I-310/24(b)79/2872 Indore, dated 4-3-1982 To M/s. Filterco, Garden 51, Neemuch (Madhya Pradesh) Sub :- Levy of sales tax on compressed woollen felt. In view of the judgment given by the Supreme Court in the case of M/s. Gujarat Woollen Mills (A.I.R. 1977 S.C. 1548) that the compressed woollen felts are not "woollen fabrics", Compressed Woollen Felts manufactured by you will not be exempt under Entry 6 of Schedule I of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 but will be covered under Entry 1 of Part VI of Schedule II appended to the said Act, and will attract tax @ 10%. Clarification given to you in this office letter No. 1/26/32/71-12317, dated 7-8-1971 is hereby cancelled. Yours faithfully, Sd/- Assistant Commissioner (Tech.) ....
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.... "It is not the case of the petitioners that in passing the impugned order, the Commissioner, therefore has acted contrary to the procedure prescribed by the Act or the Rules made thereunder. The petitioners having referred the dispute to the Commissioner, he had jurisdiction to pass the impugned order. At this stage, we refrain from expressing any opinion regarding the correctness of the impugned order because that order would not be binding on the appellate authorities under the Act, which would, no doubt, examine the question afresh if raised before them by the petitioners. If the petitioners are aggrieved by the decision of the appellate authorities, a reference to this Court under Section 44 of the Act can be made. As a remedy is available to the petitioners under the Act, it is not necessary to invoke the extraordinary powers of this Court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India". Aggrieved by the said decision of the High Court the appellants have filed this appeal after obtaining special leave. 11. We are of opinion that the High Court should have examined the merits of the case instead of dismissing the Writ Petition in limine in the manner it has ....
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....to it' ". The same principle was expressed in a slightly different language by Story J., in 200 Chests of Tea -(1824) 9 Wheaton (U.S.) 430 at 438, where the learned Judge said that "the particular words used by the legislature in the denomination of articles are to be understood according to the common commercial understanding of the terms used, and not in their scientific or technical sense, 'for the legislature does not suppose our merchants to be naturalists, or geologists, or botanists' ". This Court has reiterated the said position in Motipur Zamindary Company Ltd. v. State of Bihar-(1962) 13 S.T.C. 1 (S.C.); State of West Bengal v. Washi Ahmed-(1977) 39 S.T.C. 378 (S.C.) and Porritts and Spencer (Asia) Ltd. v. State of Haryana - 1983 E.L.T. 1607 (S.C.) = (1978) 42 S.T.C. 433 (S.C.). 13. According to Oxford English Dictionary "cloth" means- "A piece of pliable woven or felted stuff, suitable for wrapping or winding around, spreading or folding over, drying, wiping or other purpose; a swaddling or winding cloth, wrap, covering, vail, curtain, handkerchief, towel etc". &nbs....
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....of weaving according to the wrap and woof pattern and commonly used as absorbents of moisture in paper manufacturing units fell within the ordinary and common parlance sense of the word "textiles" in item 30 of Schedule B to the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 and were, therefore, exempt from tax. Upholding the said contention this Court held that expression "textiles" interpreted according to its popular sense has only one meaning, namely a woven fabric and since the dryer felts were manufactured out of cotton, woollen or synthetic yarn by the process of weaving according to the wrap and woof pattern, they were undoubtedly "textiles" within the meaning of that expression in item 30 of Schedule B. The subject matter of the case before us being admittedly felt manufactured by a totally different process and the wording of the Entry 6 in Schedule I of the statute, with which we are concerned being also wholly different, these two decisions are of no assistance to us. 17. Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants relied strongly on the letter of the Commissioner of Sales Tax dated August 7, 1971-Annexure I and sought to invoke to the principle of equitable estoppel as ....