Civil Appeal No. 1037 of 1971.
(From the Judgment and Order dated the 17th June, 1971 of the Gujarat High Court in Special Civil Application No. 112/67).
V.P. Raman, Addl.
and Girish Chandra, for the appellants.
G.N. Dikshit and R.N. Dikshit, for the respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by GUPTA, J.
The respondent is a partnership firm manufac turing non woven felts from woollen fibres which are uti lised for the purpose of filtration in heavy industries.
Between August 25, 1965 and January 5.
1967 the Excise authorities compelled the respondent to pay Rs. 55,055/87 p. as excise duty on its products.
The respondent 473 filed a writ petition in the High Court of Gujarat at Ahme dabad for quashing the order levying excise duty on the felts manufactured by the respondent treating them as 'woo llen fabrics ' covered by entry 21 in Schedule I to the (hereinafter referred to as the Act).
The High Court allowed the writ petition holding that the respondents products were not 'woollen fabrics ' and directed refund of the sum of Rs. 55,055/87 p. collected as excise duty from the firm.
The Union of India has preferred this appeal on certificate of fitness granted by the High Court questioning the correctness of the deci sion.
The only question in the appeal is whether the felts manufactured by the respondent are "woolien fabrics" within the meaning of entry 21 in the first schedule to the Act.
The writ petition describes the process of manufacture and states that the thickness of the felts produced varies from 1 mm.
to 50 mms.
according to.
the specification of the customers and that these are really machine pressed raw woolwaste.
It is stated further that the felts manufactured .by the process described are neither sheets nor fabrics, they are not material from which garments could be prepared nor they could be used 'as covering or for similar other purposes.
Entry 21 in the first schedule to the Act reads: "21.
WOOLLEN FABRICS "Woollen fabrics" .means all varieties of fabrics manufactured wholly of wool or which contain 40 per cent, or more by weight of wool and includes blankets, lohis, rugs, shawls and embroidery in the piece, in strips or in motifs: Provided that in the case of embroidery in the piece, in strips or in motifs, the percentage referred to above shall be in relation to the base fabrics which are embroi dered _ (1) Woollen fabrics, other than Ten percent.
embroidery in the piece, in ad valorem.
strips or in motifs.
(2) Embroidery in the piece in The duty for strips or in motifs, in or in the time being relation to the manufacture leviable on the of which any process is ord base fabrics, inarily carried on with the if not already aid of power.
paid, plus twenty percent.
ad va 'orern Explanation " Base fabrics" means fab rics falling ' under sub item (1) of this Item which are subjected to the process of embroi dery.
" 0 Are the products of the respondent 's factory woollen fabrics ? Fabric means woven material.
The articles manu factured by the respondent, as already stated, are non woven felts from woollen fibres.
It is contended on behalf of the appellant, Union of India, 474 that in a technical sense the felts manufactured by the respondent would still be woollen fabrics.
The well known rule in interpreting items in statutes like the one we are concerned with is that "resort should be had not to the scientific or the technical meaning of such terms but to their popular meaning or the meaning attached to them by those dealing in them, that is to say, to their commercial sense".
(Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh, Indore vs M/s. Jaswant Singh Charan Singh)(1).
The High Court has held that a trader dealing in woollen fabrics would not regard the respondent 's products as woollen fabrics, but it does not appear that there is any evidence on the record of the case to support the finding.
However, an inquiry re garding the meaning of the term woollen fabrics as commer cially understood would be relevant only when there is doubt as to the sense in which the term has been used in entry 21; it seems to us plain from the entry read as a whole that the respondent 's products did not fail within it.
Entries 19 to 22 in the schedule all deal with fabrics.
Entry 19 deals with cotton fabrics which is stated to cover, barring the exceptions specified, all varieties of fabrics manufactured either wholly or partly from cotton and in cludes, dhoties, sarees, chadders, bed sheets, bed spreads etc.
Entry 20 relates to slik fabrics which is said to mean all varieties of fabrics manufactured.
either wholly or partly from silk with certain exceptions and includes em broidery in the piece, in strips or in motifs.
Entry 22 relates to rayon or artificial silk fabrics which also is said to mean all varieties of fabrics manufactured either wholly or partly from rayon or artificial silk with some exceptions and includes embroidery in the piece, in strips or in motifs etc.
In this group, entry 21 describes woollen fabrics as meaning all varieties of fabrics manufactured out of wool, barring the exceptions mentioned, including blankets, lohis, rugs, shawls and embroidery in the piece, in strips or in motifs.
If the term 'woollen fabrics ' in this entry had been used in its technical or scientific sense and, if in that sense, it was wide enough to cover non woven material which is wool based, then it is diffi cult to explain why the entry should specifically mention blankets, rugs and shawIs as being included within it.
No one could possibly be in any doubt in respect of these few items if the term was so pervasive, and there was no reason for singling out these specific objects.
On the contrary, the mention of these items suggests that the word 'fab rics ' in entry 21 has been used to mean woven material in which sense it is popularly understood, and blankets, rugs and shawls etc.
have been specifically included in the entry out of abundant caution to indicate that 'woollen fabrics ' in entry 21 means not only woollen garments but also woollen material used as 'covering or for similar other purposes.
We therefore find no reason to take a view different from that taken by the High Court.
The appeal is dismissed with costs.
S.R. Appeal dismissed.


Summary:
An excise duty of Rs. 55055.87 was levied and collected from the respondent firm by the Excise authorities treating the non woven felts manufactured by them as "woollen fab rics" covered by entry 21 in Schedule I to the .
The Gujarat High, Court allowed the writ petition filed by the respondent and held that the respondent 's products were not "woollen fabrics" and direct ed the refund of the entire sum collected as excise duty.
Dismissing the appeal by certificate to this Court, HELD: (1) The well known rule in interpreting items in statutes is that resort should be had not to the scientif ic or the technical meaning of such terms but to their popular meaning or the meaning attached to them by those dealing in them, that is to say, their commercial sense.
[474 A B] Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh, Indore vs M/s. Jaswant Singh Charan Singh; , , applied.
(2) Fabric means woven material.
Entries 19 to 22 in the Schedule deal with fabrics.
Entry 21 describes woollen fabrics as meaning all varieties of fabrics manufactured out of wool, barring the exceptions mentioned, including blan kets, lohis, rugs, shawls and embroidery in the piece in strips or in motifs.
The word "fabric" in entry 21 has been used to mean woven material in which sense it is popularly understood.
The term "woollen fabrics" in that sense was not wide enough to cover non woven material which is wool based.
Blankets.
rugs and shawls etc.
have been specifical ly included in the entry out of abundant caution to indicate that "woollen fabrics" in entry 21 means not only woollen garments but also woollen material used as covering or for similar other purposes.
[473 H, 474 F G] (3) It is plain from entry 21 in Schedule 1 to the that the respondent 's products did not fall within it as they are nonwoven felts from woollen fibres.
[474 C]