Case: M/S. Gujarat Composite Ltd.  Vs. Ranip Nagarpalika

For the manufacture of their end products, the appellants bring raw asbestos into the area of the Ranip Nagarpalika, the first respondent. The question is whether they are liable to pay octroi under Entry 70 of ScheduleI of the Gujarat Gram and Nagar Panchayats Taxes and Fees Rules, 1964, as they contend, or under Entry 71 thereof, as the respondents contend. Entry 71 is the general residuary entry. Entry 70, as we have ascertained from the relevant Gazette, reads (precisely) thus :"Silica, Quartz, Zircon sand, Felspar, Gypsum, Grog Minerals and Oxides used as raw materials."2. The High Court, being approached by the appellants, dismissed their Writ Petition by the order under challenge. It found that there were disputed questions of fact, as to whether raw asbestos was a mineral and whether grog was a mineral.

Reasoning: 10. We are, in the first place, not dealing with a statute and we are not adding or subtracting words. We are dealing with an Entry that is, manifestly erroneously printed, as pointed out above. We are trying to make sense of that Entry by ironing out its creases. There being no such item known to the technical world as "Grog Minerals", it is patent that the said Entry 70 was intended to cover (1) "Grog" and (2) "Minerals". This is the only manner in which any sense can be made of the said Entry 70. That being so and raw asbestos being a mineral is used by the appellants as a raw material, the appellants are entitled to pay octroi on the raw asbestos they bring into the respondents area under the said Entry 70 and not under the residuary Entry 71.