M/S Eureka Forbes Limited vs State Of Bihar And Ors

2. The present case relates to assessment of the Appellant herein concerning assessment years 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93 and 1993-94.

Notices under Section 17 (2)(a) of the Act were issued to the assessee for examination of books of accounts. The said books of accounts were produced and assessment orders under Section Page 1 of 8 17 (2)(b) of the Act were passed. In the said assessment order, the assessee was levied tax on vacuum cleaner at the rate of 12% treating it as electrical goods as against the contention of the Appellant that vacuum cleaner, which is an article dealt with by the Appellant, is taxable at the rate of 8%.

4. The Assessing Officer by the assessment order rejected the aforesaid contention of the assessee while holding that the assessee is liable to pay tax on vacuum cleaner at the rate of 12%. Being aggrieved by the aforesaid findings and assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer, the Appellant filed appeals which were entertained and disposed of dismissing the said appeals.

5. Being aggrieved by the aforesaid order passed in appeals, the assessee preferred Revision Applications before the Commercial Taxes Tribunal. By an order passed on 15.4.2004, the Tribunal dismissed the said Revisions holding that the vacuum cleaner is an electrical good or instrument and, therefore, it falls within Entry 81 of the Notification dated 26.12.1977 issued under Section 12 of the Bihar Finance Act - Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1959.

6. Being aggrieved by the aforesaid order of the Tribunal, a writ petition was filed, which was again dismissed by the High Court by judgment and order dated 26.2.2010 as against which this appeal was filed.

conditioners, air-coolers and air-conditioning plants, etc. have been taken out from the items "electrical goods" under Entry 81 by levying higher rate of tax.

12.That the vacuum cleaner dealt with by the appellant is an electrical good, there is no dispute raised for in the Special Leave Petition itself it is stated by the Appellant that the vacuum cleaner is a machinery which is run by electricity. Therefore, it is an agreed and uniform case of the parties that vacuum cleaner is Page 5 of 8 an electrical good. The said vacuum cleaner is not excluded from the purview and ambit of Entry 81 in any manner as is apparent from a bare reading of the contents of Entry 81.

13.We are concerned with the assessment years prior to 2000 and, therefore, the Notification issued on 26.7.2000 shall have no relevance or application to the facts of the present case.

14.Counsel appearing for the Appellant has submitted that since vacuum cleaner is not specifically included within the Entry 81, therefore, it should be deemed to be excluded. We are unable to accept the aforesaid contention in view of the fact that none of any electrical goods, instruments, apparatus, which is included in the said Entry is specifically mentioned and if that interpretation is accepted, all electrical goods would have to be excluded because they are not specifically mentioned therein.

That could not be the intention of the framers of the Notification while exercising the powers under the subordinate legislation. If we also accept such an interpretation, in our opinion, entire Entry 81 would be rendered otiose.

16.We have given our reasons for arriving at our findings and in our considered opinion, the decisions given by the High Court as also by all other authorities are correct decisions, recording cogent reasons, and, therefore, we are not inclined to interfere with the same.

17.The appeal has no merits and is dismissed accordingly but leaving the parties to bear their own costs.