M/S SREE DURGA DISTRIBUTORS versus STATE OF KARNATAKA

Citation: [2007] 5 S.C.R. 1037 · Decided: 30-04-2007 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S.H. KAPADIA · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

-
~ ) 
MIS SREE DURGA DISTRIBUTORS 
A 
v. 
STA TE OF KARNATAKA 
APRIL 30, 2007 
[S.H. KAPADIA AND B. SUDERS HAN REDDY, JJ.] 
B 
Karna/aka Value Added Tax Act, 2003-First Schedule, Entry 5-Nil 
rate of duty-Entitlement of-For 'dog feed' and 'cat feed' -Held: On 
interpretation of Entry 5, it is evident that Dog and Cat feed do not fall under c 
Entry 5-Hence not entitled to Nil rate of duty-Interpretation of Statutes. 
The question for consideration in the present appeal was whether 'dog 
feed' and 'cat feed' sold by the appellant- assessee attracted Nil rate of duty 
under Entry 5 of First Schedule of the Karnataka Value Added Tax Act 2003. 
Dismissing the appeal, the ~ourt 
D 
HELD: Entry 5 of the First Schedule to Karnataka Value Added Tax Act, 
1' 
2003 shows that animal feed and fed supplements is one category. It is after 
the expression "animal feed and feed supplements" that the Legislature has 
inserted the comma, therefore, animal feed and feed supplements constitute E 
one class of products, they do not constitute two separate classes. Further, 
the expression "animal feed and feed supplements" is not only followed by 
the comma, it is followed by the word 'namely', which indicates that the items 
mentioned after the word 'namely' like 'poultry feed', 'cattle feed', 'pig feed', 
'fish feed' etc. are specific instances of animal feed and feed supplements, 
F 
___,,. 
which would fall in Entry 5 . That list is exhaustive. In that list, the Legislature 
has not included 'dog feed/cat feed' therefore, the products of the appellant do 
not fall under Entry 5 of the First Schedule of the Act. The Legislature 
intended to provide for Nil rate of duty to specified items mentioned in Entry 
5.Dog and Cat feed are not mentioned in those items. 
[Para 5 and 6) [1040-A, B; 1041-F) G 
), ,. 
Vidyacharan Shukla v. Khubchand Baghe/ and Ors., AIR (1964) SC 
1099, distinguished. 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 2274 of2007. 
1037 
H 
1038 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2007] 5 S.C.R. 
-
A 
From the Final Judgment and Order dated 18.11.2006 of the High Court 
~ -
of Karnataka at Bangalore in S.T.A. No. IS of 2006. 
S.K. Bagaria, R.V. Prasad, Praveen Kumar and Chandra Shekhar Mulherkar 
for the Appellant. 
1 
B 
Sanjay R. Hedge, Vikrant Yadav, Amit Kumar Chawla and Ramesh S. 
Jadhav for the Respondent. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
; 
KAPADIA, J. I. Leave granted. 
c 
2. A short question which arises for determination in this civil appeal 
is whether 'dog feed' and 'cat feed' sold by the appellant-assessee attracts 
Nil rate of duty under Entry 5 of First Schedule of the Kamataka Value Added 
Tax Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). The said entry was 
inserted vide Kamataka Ad No. 27/05 with effect from 7.6.2005. 
D 
3. We quote hereinbelow Entry 5 of First Schedule of the Act: 
"5. Animal feed and feed supplements, namely, processed commodity 
·1 
sold as poultry feed, cattle feed, pig feed, fish feed, fish meal, prawn 
feed, shrimp feed and feed supplements and mineral mixture 
E 
concentrates, intended for use as feed supplements including de-oiled 
cake and wheat bran." 
4. According to the appellant, dog feed and cat feed are the products 
which would fall in the category of animal feed under Entry 5. According to 
F 
the appellant, Entry 5 deals with animal feed, feed supplements, namely, 
processed commodity sold as poultry feed, cattle feed, pig feed, fish feed, fish 
,,. 
feed, fish meal, prawn feed, shrimp feed, feed supplements and mineral mixtures. 
According to the appellant, the words; poultry feed, cattle feed, and pig feed 
etc. are the specific instances of food supplements. According to the appellant, 
the word 'namely' after the words 'feed supplements' in Entry 5 shows that 
G the Legislature intended the words 'feed supplements' to be confined to 
poultry feed, cattle feed, pig feed, fish feed, fish meal, prawn feed and shrimp 
feed. In other words, according to the appellant, animal feed and feed 
" 
A 
supplements are two expressions in Entry 5 which should be read disjunctively 
and not conjunctively. It is submitted that each of the aforesaid three categories 
H 
of goods covered by Entry 5 is quite complete and independent in itself. That, 
meaning of the expression "and" appearing between first category and second 
SREE DURGA DISTRIBUTORS"· STATE OF KARNATAKA [KAPADIA, J.] 
1039 
category and between second category and third category is that in addition A 
..,

Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.