- (1.)THIS is an application in revision against the order of the Collector of Sales Tax modifying the order of assessment passed by the Sales Tax Officer (which had been confirmed in appeal by the Assistant Commissioner, Central Circle, Baroda) and fixing the amount of sales tax payable by the applicant at Rs. 199-3-0.
(2.)THE facts of the case are as follows :- THE applicant deals in ghee and butter at Dhulia. THE whole of the butter that he purchases for retail sale is not sold out till the end of the day and whatever quantity remains is boiled by him in order to prevent its deterioration. A certificate of registration was issued to the applicant in respect of his business on 11th March, 1949, but his liability to pay the sales tax was ordered to begin from 1st April, 1948. THE total butter purchased by him in the financial year 1948-49 was worth Rs. 780-2-6. THE applicant says that the quantity which he had boiled at the end of the day was very negligible and might not be worth more than a few rupees in the aggregate. THE Sales Tax Officer, however, held that the applicant becomes a processor in consequence of the ghee which he produced out of the butter remaining unsold, and as his total turnover (inclusive of the price of the ghee made from the butter) comes to Rs. 11,683-6-6 in the year he was liable as processor under Section 5(1)(b) of the Sales Tax Act. THE applicant who was dissatisfied with this, went up in appeal to the Assistant Commissioner but without success. He next approached the Collector who while upholding the decision of the Sales Tax Officer gave him a remission of Rs. 143 under the special powers conferred on him by Government on the ground that in the absence of a registration certificate he had to pay sales tax to the persons from whom he purchased the ghee etc. and reduced the amount payable by him to Rs. 199-3-0. THE applicant has made this application for revision contending that he is not liable to pay any sales tax.
There is no dispute about the total turnover, or the other figures given above. There is, however, no evidence as regards the price of the ghee made by boiling the unsold butter; but the applicant has pointed out to us that the total quantity of butter purchased during the whole of the year was worth only Rs. 780-2-6 and that therefore the butter boiled could be worth a few rupees only, We think the reasonable view to take will be that not more than a quarter of the butter could have been boiled into ghee by the applicant in the year or at the most worth Rs. 180 or so.

Two questions arise in this case. The first is whether the boiling of the butter can be regarded as a process for the purpose of Section 5(1)(b) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act and the second whether that turnover can be combined with his other turnover falling under Section 5(1)(c) of the Act so as to make him liable as processor for the entire amount under Section 5(1)(b).

(3.)TAKING first the question whether the boiling of the butter into ghee is a process for the purposes of Section 5(1)(b) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, we shall first mention that the so-called process consists merely of putting the butter into a pot and placing it on fire without adding anything to it and that when it is boiled the sour substance which leads to its deterioration settles down at the bottom and the pure liquid above is the ghee which later solidifies when it cools down. The question is whether this mere boiling can be treated as a process. The Bombay Sales Tax Act nowhere defines the term though we must say that it will be better if the Legislature does it as soon as possible. In the absence of any statutory definition we must have recourse to its popular meaning. As Maxwell has said in his book "Interpretation of Statutes" Ninth Edition (1946), p. 34, definitions in dictionaries have to be deprecated but Maxwell has quoted a little later the observation of Lord Coleridge which is an follows :- "I am aware that dictionaries are not to be taken as authoritative exponents of meanings of words used in Acts of Parliament, but it is a well-known rule of courts of law that words shall be taken to be used in their ordinary sense, and we are, therefore, sent for instruction to these books." A little further on, Maxwell has quoted the remark of Asquith, J., that "in the absence of any judicial guidance or authority dictionaries can be consulted" and has referred to cases in which Oxford and Webster's English Dictionaries have been referred to determine the meaning of a certain word. If we are quoting all this, it is with a view to show what value is to be given to dictionary meanings in interpreting the words used.
So far as the word "process" is concerned we were referred for the Government to Webster's Dictionary, page 1710. Some of the meanings given at (3) are the only pertinent ones. They are : (a) A series of actions, motions or.....................; (b) continuous operation or treatment; (c) a method of operation or treatment; (d) a chemical process and (e) a process of manufacture.