Stoker coke manufactured from coal falls within the meaning of "coke in all its forms" in entry 1 of the Third Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, and is therefore exempt from sales tax on second sale.

( 1 ) THIS tax revision case, under section 22 (1) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 (for short, "the Act"), is directed against the order of the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal in Tax Appeal No. 695 of 1986 dated 3/02/1987. The question that arose for consideration is :"whether, stoker coke manufactured by the respondent from out of coal falls within the meaning of entry 1 of the Third Schedule to the Act ?"

( 2 ) THE respondent is a dealer in coal and coke. In the assessment year in question the turnover of Rs. 11,40,366 was in respect of second sales of stoker coke. The assessee claimed exemption on the ground that the stoker coke falls within declared goods and, therefore, sales tax can be levied only at one point. The assessing authority allowed the exemption. However, the Deputy Commissioner (C. T.), in exercise of the powers under section 20 (2) of the Act, revised the assessment made by the assessing authority and directed inclusion of the exempted turnover in the assessable turnover. On appeal by the assessee to the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, the order of the Deputy Commissioner was reversed and that of the assessing authority was restored taking the view that stoker coke is eligible for exemption on second sales. Aggrieved by that order of the Tribunal the Revenue filed this revision.

( 3 ) THE learned Government Pleader contends that stoker coke does not fall within the meaning of entry 1 of the Third Schedule, as such, turnover of its second sale is not entitled to exemption. Shrimathi C. Jayashree Sarathy, the learned counsel for the assessee, on the other hand, contends that the petitioner manufactured stoker coke from out of coal and having regard to the wording of the entry it falls within the entry and there can be no tax liability on the second sale.

( 4 ) THE short question that arises for consideration is whether stoker coke, sold in the brand name of Charminar coke, by the assessee, falls within the meaning of the first entry of the Third Schedule.

( 5 ) IT would be useful to note here that the goods enumerated in section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, being goods of special importance in the inter-State trade or commerce and commonly known as declared goods, are liable to be taxed subject to the restrictions imposed in section 15 of that Act. The restrictions, inter alia, are that the tax payable under the law in respect of any sale or purchase of the declared goods inside the State shall not exceed 4 per cent and such tax shall not be levied at more than one stretch. To give effect to the said provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act, section 6 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act provides that notwithstanding anything contained in the charging section, namely, section 5, the sales or purchase of the declared goods by a dealer shall be liable to tax at the rate, and only at the point of sale or purchase specified against each in the Third Schedule on his turnover of such sales or purchase for each year. This is irrespective of the quantum of the turnover of such goods. Entry 1 of the Third Schedule reads as follows :"third SCHEDULE Declared goods in respect of which a single point tax only is leviable under section 6@@------------------------------------------------------------------------S. Description of goods Point of Rate ofno. levy tax----------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) (2) (3) (4)-----------------------------------------------------------------------1 Coal including coke in all its At the 4 paiseforms but excluding charcoal : point of in the first sale rupee. "provided that during the period in State. commencing on the 23rd day of February,1967 and ending with the 1st day ofapril, 1973, this clause shall haveeffect subject to the modificationthat the words but excluding charcoal shall be omitted.----------------------------------------------------------------------- @@it is evident that coal includes coke in all its forms excluding c

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