- (1.) LEAVE granted.
(2.) INTERPRETATION of an Entry in the U. P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 is in question in these appeals which arise out of a judgment and order dated 16th april, 2007 of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in CMWP No. 554 of 2006 and CMWP No. 98 of 2007. The State of Uttar Pradesh enacted the U. P. Sales Tax Act (for short, "the said Act" ). In exercise of its powers conferred upon it under clause (d)of sub-section (1) of Section 3-A of the said Act, a notification was issued by the State on 7th September, 1981 prescribing description of goods, point of tax and rates thereof, Entry 21 whereof reads as under:- JUDGEMENT_611_TLPRE0_2008Html1.htm In supersession of the said Notification, another notification was issued on 23rd November, 1998, Entry 22 whereof reads as under:- JUDGEMENT_611_TLPRE0_2008Html2.htm Provided that in the case of fuel gases if the sale is by any of the undertaking registered as dealer in the name and style of M/s. I. O. C. Ltd. , B. P. C. . Ltd. , H. P. C. Ltd. , and I. B. P. Co. Ltd. , the tax shall be levied at the point of sale by such dealer to a person other than any of the aforesaid dealers. Yet again on or about 1st March, 2003 a Notification was issued, entry (i) whereof is as under :- JUDGEMENT_611_TLPRE0_2008Html3.htm Before embarking on the question of law, we may notice the representative fact of the matter involved in the appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 11744 of 2007. Appellants carry on business of manufacturing and sale of yeast which is used for the purposes of manufacturing bread etc. They had been filing returns before the sales tax authorities treating 'yeast' to be a 'chemical' within the meaning of the aforesaid entry for a long time. The said returns had been accepted and orders of assessment were passed relying on or on the basis thereof.
(3.) WE may at the outset notice that, a Bench of the Gujarat High Court in state of Gujarat vs. Bhagwati General Agency (Import) : 1991 (83) Sales tax Cases 347 held 'yeast' to be a 'chemical' within the meaning of Entry 9 of Part A Schedule II of the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969 and a Bench of the kerala High Court in State of Kerala vs. A. M. Jose : 2004 (137) STC 82 opined 'yeast' to be a 'living organism' and, thus, not a "chemical" interpreting Entry 29 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act. By an order dated 10th March, 2005 the Assessing Officer while accepting the books of account as well as the disclosed turnover, rejected the classification of sale of 'yeast' under the head 'chemical' and imposed tax thereupon treating the same to be as "unclassified item". In support of the said order, reliance was placed on the decision of the Kerala High Court in a. M. Jose (supra ). Appeals preferred thereagainst by the appellants before the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and the Trade Tax Tribunal were dismissed.;