Simpson and Co. Ltd. vs State of Madras : No. 2

Veeraswami, J.—One of the questions raised by the assessee in this tax revision case is, whether "garage stools" are within entry 44 of Schedule I of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1959. The Tribunal''s view is that they do fall within it. In our opinion, the Tribunal is right. The contention for the assessee is that the words "furniture of all types including those made of steel" in entry 44 should be interpreted in the light of the preceding words "upholstered furniture, sofa sets, dressing tables". It is said that garage stools, though made of steel, are only used by workers in garages and the intention of entry 44 is not to cover such stools. We are unable to accept this construction. The phrase "furniture of all types" is wide enough to cover all kinds of furniture, and is not confined to furniture used in homes and offices. Read in the light of entry 13, there is no doubt that entry 44 is intended to coverall types of furniture. The turnover relating to sale of garage stools has been properly charged to tax.

So far as the turnover relating to bus body-building contracts is concerned, it is not disputed that our judgment in T.C. No. 227 of 1964 (Simpson and Co. Ltd. v. The State of Madras represented by the Board of Revenue, Madras-5 Reported at p. 374 supra) is applicable to the facts. The terms of the contracts are practically identical with those in T.C. No. 227 of 1964. Following that judgment, we have to hold that the turnover relating to bus bodybuilding also has been charged rightly.

The tax case fails and is dismissed. No costs.