COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX, MADHYA PRADESH versus JASWANT SINGH CHARAN SINGH

Citation: [1967] 2 S.C.R. 720 · Decided: 23-02-1967 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: J.M. SHELAT · Disposal: Dismissed

Cited by 5 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX, MADHYA PRADESH 
A 
v. 
JASWANT SINGH CHARAN SINGH 
February 23, 1967 
(J. M. SHELAT AND G. K. MITTER, JJ.J 
Madhya Pradcsli G•neral Sales Tax Act, 
195S-Charcoal 
whether 
'coal withit• meaning of Entry I Part III of Seil. II to the Act-Rat~ of 
tax applicable. 
The r"'pondent was a dealer in firewood 
and charcoal. In proceed· 
ings for assessment of sales tax under the \iadhya Pradesh General Sales 
Tax Act, 1958, the respondent claimed that charcoal was 'coal' witlun the 
meaning of Entry I of Part Ill of the Sch~dule II to the Act and there-
fore was taxable at the rate of 2 % . The sales tax au:horities however 
held that charcoal was not 'cool' and was taxable at 4% as it fell under 
the residuary Entry I of Part VI of Schedule JI. The Board of Revenue 
and the High Court held in favour of the respondent relying on the dic-
tionary meaning of the 
word 'coal'. The Commissioner of Sales-tax 
appealed. 
It was urged on behalf of the appellant that coal was a mineral while 
charcoal was manufactured from products like wood and other things by 
human agency and therefore the dictionary 
meaning ought not to have 
been relied upon. 
Reliance was also placed on legislative practice which 
had treated co:J:I and charcoal as different items. 
HELD : In interpreting items in >tatutes like the Sales Tax Acts re-
.<ort should be had not to the scientific or technical meaning of the terms 
used but to their popular meaning or the meaning attached to them by 
those dealing in them, that is to say, in their commucial sense. Viewed 
from this angle, both a merchant dealing in coal and a consumer wanting 
to purchase it would regard coal not 
in its geological sense but in the 
sense as ordinarily understood and would include 'charcoal' in the term 
'coal'. 
Under the Entries., 'coal' as well as 'firewood' were taxed at 291'>. 
It could not have been intended to tax charcoal a!one at 4%. 
Entry I of 
Part Ill of Sch. II must therefore be read 
broadly and held to include 
charcoal. It was not possible to adopt its connotation from other statutes 
pas..00 for different purposes or in the context of different objects.[713 B; 
ns A-E; 126 CJ 
Ramavatar Budhaiprarad etc. v. Assistant 
Sales Ta:c Officer, Akola. 
( 1962) I S.C.R. 279 and Hi• Majesty the King v. Pla11ters Nut and Chow-
/ate Company Limited, (1951] C.L.R. (Ex.) 122, relied on. 
Attorney-Ge11eral v. Winstanley, (1831) 2 D & Cl. 302, Grenfell v. 
/11/and Re\•enue Co1n11Jissiot1er) ( 1876) 1 Ex. D. 24! Holt & Co. v. Col/ytr• 
( 1881) 16 Ch. D. 718, referred to. 
CIVIL· APPEi.LATE JUR1smcrro:; : Civil Appeal No. 2011 of 
1966. 
B 
c 
0 
E 
F 
G 
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated 
H 
February 23, 1966 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in M.C.C. 
No. 169 of 1965. 
C. S. T. v. JASWANT SINGH (She/al, /.) 
721 
A 
B. Sen and I. N. Shroff, for the appellant. 
B 
c 
D 
'E 
F 
G 
Rameshwar Nath and Mohinder Narain, for the respondent. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
Sbelat, J. The appellant has been carrying on business and 
is a dealer in firewood and charcoal. For the period from March 
29, 1962 to April 29, 1962, he was assessed to sales tax under s.18(6) 
of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958 as he did 
not have any registration certificate in •espect of this period. The 
Additional Sales Tax Officer, Ujjain, and the Additional Appellate 
Assistant Commissioner, Indore, both held that charcoal in which 
the ;;ppellant. was dealing was not covered by Entry I of Pa : III 
of Sch. II to the Act, but that it felt under the residuary Entry I 
of Part VI of that Schedule; and consequently was liable to be 
assessed at the rate of 4 % of the price of charcoal. 
In a fur-
ther appeal before the Board of Revenue, the Board, relying on 
the dictionary meaning of the word 'coal' as given in Blackies' 
Concise Dictionary, held that charcoal would be included in the 
term 'coal'; and, ~herefore, Entry I in Part III of Schedule II would 
apply and the tax chargeable would be at 2 % only. At the in-
stance of the Commissioner of Sales Tax, the Board referred the 
following question to the High Court :-
"Whether charcoal is covered under Entry I of Part 
III of Sch. II to the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958, 
a!'d is taxable at the rate of 2 ~~ or will be taxable at the 
rate of 4 % under Entry I of Part VI of Sch. II to the 
M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 ?" 
T! .~ High Court held that while construing entries in

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