Toughened Glass Falls under the Ambit “All Goods and Wares Made of Glass” under U.P. Sales Tax Act: Supreme Court [Read Order]

The Supreme Court of India has held that toughened glass manufactured falls under the ambit of “all goods and wares made of glass” under Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) Sales Tax Act, 1998.

M/s. Gudex Glass Industries Pvt.Ltd, the petitioner questioned before the court whether the toughened glass manufactured and sold by the appellant is to be classified as “glass and glassware” or as an unclassified item subjected to a lower tax.

The trade tax assessment officer ruled against the appellant holding that the toughened glass manufactured by the assessee was covered by the expression “All goods and wares made of glass”.  The tariff entry under the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1998 i.e.Tariff Item No. 39, reads as follows:

“All goods and wares made of glass but not including plain glass panes, optical lenses, hurricane lantern chimneys, bottles and phials, glass beads, clinical syringes, thermometers, and scientific apparatus and instruments made of glass….”

The High Court, however, set aside the  Tribunal’s finding relying upon the judgment of this Court in “Trutuf Safety Glass Industries vs. Commissioner of Sales Tax, U.P.” reported in (2007) 7 SCC 242.

The Entry contains an expansive description i.e. "glass" and "glassware" in all forms". There is no dispute that the articles manufactured by the assessee are articles made of glass. The word ’form’ connotes a visible aspect such as shape or mode in which a thing exists or manifests itself, species, kind or variety.

The use of the word ’in all forms’ is different from the expression ’all kinds. The conceptual difference between the words "all kinds’ and ’in all forms is that the former multiplies items of the same kind while the latter multiplies the same commodity in different forms. The use of the word ’in all forms’ widens the scope of the Entry.

The High Court proceeded on the basis that “while interpreting the words ’glass and glass wares’ in the entry, it should be interpreted as it is understood by the persons dealing in them. It held that the articles manufactured by the assessee cannot be described as glass or glass wares.”

The view of the High Court would have been correct had the expression "in all forms" not succeeded the expression "glass and glass wares". “

A two-judge bench comprising Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Aravind Kumar observed that “The nature and description of articles in Item No. 39 of the Tariff Notification, emphases the kind of goods which are covered and at the same indicate the class of goods which are not covered.  In the opinion of this Court, the article manufactured by the appellant-assessee falls within the description of Item No. 39. 

The court upheld the judgment of the High Court and dismissed the appeal.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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