- (1.) 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 respect of this period. The Additional Sales Tax Officer, Ujjain, and the Additional Appellate Assistant Commissioner, Indore, both held that charcoal in which the appellant was dealing was not covered by Entry I of Part III of Sch. II to the Act, but that it fell under the residuary Entry I of Part VI of that Schedule; and consequently was liable to be assessed at the rate of 4 per cent of the price of charcoal. In a further 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, therefore, Entry I in Part III of Sch. II would apply and the tax chargeable would be at 2 per cent only. At the instance 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, and is taxable at the rate of 2 per cent or will be taxable at the rate of 4 per cent under Entry I of Part VI of Sch. II to the M. P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 - The High Court held that while construing entries in a statute like the Sales Tax Acts, the Court should prefer the popular meaning of the terms used in such entries and not their dictionary meanings and that so construed charcoal would be included in the word 'coal'. Consequently, it answered the question in favour of the respondent. According to the High Court, charcoal would be covered by Entry I of Part III of Sch. II and was taxable at 2 per cent. Hence this appeal by special leave. Entry I of Part III of Sch. II reads as follows:- "1. Coal, including coke in all its forms - 2 per cent." Entry I of Part VI of the said Schedule reads as follows:- "1. All other goods not included in Sch. I or any other part of this Schedule - 4 per cent". We may also reproduce Entry 8 of Part III of Sch. II which is:- "8. Firewood -2 per cent".
(2.) The meaning given to the word 'coal' in Blackies' Concise Dictionary, New Edition, p. 134 relied on by the Board reads as follows:- "Coal: Kol: A piece of wood or other combustible substance burning or charred; charcoal; a cinder; now, usually a solid black substance found in the earth, largely employed as fuel, and formed from vast masses of vegetable matter deposited through the luxurious growth of plants in former epochs of the earth's history". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary at pp. 330 and 331 gives the meaning of coal as follows:- "1. A piece of carbon glowing without a flame. 2. A piece of burnt wood, etc., that is still capable of combustion without flame, cinder, ashes. 3. Charcoal. 4. A mineral, solid, hard, opaque, black or blackish, found in seams in the earth, and largely used as fuel; it consists of carbonized vegetable matter". At p. 293, the said Dictionary gives the meaning of charcoal as follows:- "The suggestion that Char-Chare v. or sb. as if turn-coal, i.e., wood turned into coal, lacks support. 1. The black porous residue, consisting (when pure) wholly of carbon, obtained from partly burnt wood, bones, etc. Hence specified as wood, vegetable, animal, etc.". The Webster's New International Dictionary gives the following meaning of charcoal at p. 452:- "(Char to burn, reduce to coal; Coal); 1. A dark coloured or black porous form of carbon prepared from vegetable or animal substance, as that made by charging wood in a kiln, retort, etc., from which air is excluded".
(3.) According to these Dictionaries 'coal' would appear to include 'charcoal'. The contention of the respondent was that charcoal is one of the species of coal, and, therefore, would be covered by Entry I of Part III, and, therefore, the answer given by the High Court is correct. Counsel for the State, however, raised three contentions; (1) that coal and charcoal are different products, one being a mineral product and the other prepared from wood and other articles by human agency, and, therefore, the term 'coal' would not cover charcoal; (2) that while construing such entries, the dictionary meaning should not be preferred to the popular meaning or the meaning in the commercial sense; and (3) that the Legislative policy in reference to the term 'coal' shows that it is not used by the Legislature in India so as to include charcoal.;