ANNAPURNA CARBON INDUSTRIES CO. versus STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Citation: [1976] 3 S.C.R. 561 · Decided: 09-03-1976 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: A.N. RAY · Disposal: Dismissed

Cited by 3 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

I 
• 
•• 
ANNAPURNA CARBON INDUSTRIES CO. 
v. 
STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH 
March 9, 1976 
561 
[A. N. RAY, C.J., M. H. BEG AND JASWANT SINGH, JJ.] 
Andlira Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1967. Schedule I, Entry 4-Arc 
Carbons. if fall under entry. 
· 
Entry 4 of the I Schedule of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 
1957, reads: Cinematographic equipment 
including ... parts 
and 
accessories 
required for use therewith. 
On the question whether Arc Carbons, known as 'Cinama Arc Carbons' 
manufactured by the appellant fall under the entry and their sales were, there~ 
fore, rightly subjected to sales tax. 
fIELD : The meaning of an entry can only be satisfactorily determined in 
the light of the language of the entry itself considered in the context in ¥/hich 
it occurs, and cases relating to totally different entries \vill hav~ only a very 
remote bearing. 
Entry 4 occurs in a Schedule of taxable goods. 
\Vhen it was 
inteiided to confine an entry to particular gadgets and 'parts thereof' the entry 
said so. 
Entry 4, however, includes 'parts' as well as 'accessories'. The term 
'accessories' is used to describe goods which may have_ been manufactured for 
use as an aid or addition to particular machines, though, they may serve as 
aids to other kinds of instruments also. 
But, this entry and other entries use 
the cxpre:-<sion 'required for use therewith'. The description of the goods in 
these entries indicates that the expression has been en1ployed for cquip1ncnt or 
accessories connected with the main purpose. Therefore, it is its general or 
predominant use that determines the category in which an article will fall. 
[563D--F, G; 564B-CJ 
In the present case, the main use of Arc Carbons \\'as proved to be that of 
A 
B 
c 
D 
production of po\verful light used in projectors in Cinemas. The fact that they 
E 
can also be used for other purposes such as for search lights etc., will not 
detract from their classification under Entry 4. 
The classification is determined 
by their ordinary or common known purpose or user, which is evident from 
the fact they are known as 'Cinema Arc Carbons' in the 1narket. [564 F-H] 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. 630-631 
of 
1971. 
Appeals by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated the 
F 
19-1-1970 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Tax Revision Cases 
Nos 46 and 47 of 1969. 
V. S. Desai, Mrs. Vimla Markandeyulu and G. N. Rao for the 
Appellant. 
P. Ram Reddy and P. P. Rao for the Respondents. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
BEG, J. 
The short question before us in these appeals by special 
leave, is whether sales of Arc carbons, known as "Cinema Arc Car-
bons", manufactured by the appellant company, were rightly subjected 
to sales tax for two assessment years 1965-66 and 1966-77 on the 
ground that they fall under entry No. 4 of the 1st Schedule of the 
Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, (hereinafter referred 
to as 'the Act'). This entry reads as follows : 
"Cinematographic equipment, including cameras, 
pro-
jectors, and sound recording and 
reproducing 
equipment 
G 
H 
562 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
(1976] 3 S.C.R. 
A 
lenses, films and parts and accesories required for use there-
with". 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
As indicated above, the very name of the Arc Carbons as com-
mercial commodities, seems to attach the word "Cinema" ' to them 
because of the 
use 
to 
which 
they are generally 
put. 
The 
High Court referred to the fact that the appellants had not produced 
their account books to show that they had been purchased by persons 
other than those who ran cinemas or for any other use. 
Of course it 
is very difficult to identify a taxable commodity merely by the use' to 
which it may be put. Nevertheless, it appears that the entry under 
consideration links the taxable object with its general or ordinary use. 
The taxing authorities were, therefore, compelled to consider the use 
which is generally made of the arc carbons. 
They had concluded that 
the common or ordinary use of the arc carbons was that they exuded 
the powerful light cast, through the projectors, on cinema screens. 
It was pointed out that the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, the final 
departmental authority under the Act, had allowed an application for 
adducing expert evidence to determine the question whether arc car-
bons manufactured by the appellant company could be covered by the 
entry under consideration. 
It, however, appears that, before further 
e

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