A.N.VARMA, J. - (1.) The short question raised for consideration in this writ petition is whether cuttings and 'trimmings' of wood commonly called wood waste are also 'wood' exigible to market fee under the U.P. Krishi Utpadan Mandi Adhiniyam, 1964 (the Act for short).
(2.) The question arises in this way. The petitioner, a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956, has a factory in the Industrial Area, Sahibabad in the district of Ghaziabad. It carries on the business of designing, erecting and commissioning of Cooling Towers as per the specification of its customers. In the erection of Cooling Towers the petitioner requires and prepares what are called 'Scantlings' out of various kinds of wood such as chir and ply etc. These scantlings are prepared by sawing, sizing and drilling etc. of the wood. In the process of sawing and drilling etc. of the wood, waste in the form of cuttings and trimmings (herein after referred to as waste) come into being. The petitioner sells this waste to various dealers for a variety of uses. For instance waste is used by paper mills which use this waste as raw material for making pulp for the manufacture of craft paper. The respondent Mandi Samiti sought to levy and collect from the petitioner market fee on the transactions of sale of this waste by the petitioner as an item falling under the Schedule to the aforesaid Act which lists various items of agricultural produce as defined under Section 2(a) of the Act. It is this demand which has brought the petitioner to this Court. The petitioner contends that the waste arising from sawing and drilling etc. of wood cannot be characterised as wood exigible to market fee under the Act. It is further contended that the waste arising from the raw material, which is wood in the present case, cannot be characterised as wood.
(3.) The simple stand taken by the respondent Mandi Samiti is that the cuttings and trimmings are themselves wood. Only the form undergoes change. In short, tile contention is that the waste arising from sawing and drilling of wood does not lose its essential character as wood.;