COLLECTOR OF SALES TAX THE BOMBAY Vs. ABDUL REHMAN ALLADIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a Reference under sec. 34(1) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act 1953 The business of Messrs. Abdul Rehman Alladin the respondents herein consisted of purchasing old motor-cars and dismantling the same and deriving spare parts therefrom and parts which could not be used as spare parts and of selling the spare parts without moulding repairing or changing them in any way. The respondents also sold old motor-cars and scrap. The respondents applied for registration on 11th July 1955 as by that date according to them their turnover had exceeded Rs. 25 0 The Sales Tax Officer by his order dated 11th July 1955 took the view that the respondents were liable as dealers who processed goods with effect from 1st April 1954 when their turnover was taken to have exceeded Rs. 10 0 The matter went in appeal before the Assistant Collector of Sales Tax who set aside the assessment by his order dated 9th JUly 1956. Thereafter the Additional Collector of Sales Tax in exercise of his powers of revision by his order dated 19th May 1958 held that the respondents were dealers who processed goods and restored the assessment order passed by the Sales Tax Officer. The matter was carried further before the Sales Tax Tribunal. The Tribunal set aside the order of the Additional Collector of Sales Tax and affirmed the order of the AssistAnt Collector of Sales Tax The Tribunal observed that in its opinion change of the original goods in some way or the other was the essence of processing and that having regard to the description of the work done by the respondents it could not be said that the respondents had done any work of processing. At the instance of the Collector of Sales Tax a Reference has been made to us for the determination of the following questions which arise out of the order of the Tribunal.

(2.) Section 5(1)(b)(ii) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act 1953 which is required to be construed for the purpose of answering the aforesaid questions runs as under:

(3.) The question that we have to determine is whether it could be said that the respondents in this case have processed any goods or produced or manufactured any goods. The term process has been used in the section as a transitive verb. In Websters New World Dictionary the meaning of the word process used as a transitive verb has been given as to prepare by or subject to a treatment or process . In Iyers Law Lexicon that word has been stated to mean treatment of substance in transforming or reducing it to a different state . We have therefore to consider whether when a person purchases old motor-cars and dismantles the same and takes out their parts which could be sold as spare parts he could be said to have processed any goods. Can it be said that when a car is dismantled it Is subjected to a treatment for the purpose of taking there out spare parts? The expression spare parts itself indicates that the reference is to such parts of the car which are identifiable by name and which are capable of being removed from a car and replaced in a car. The action of removing a part from out of the car in order that it may be used as a spare part for fitting it into another car cannot from any common sense point of view we regarded as processing any goods