The judgment of the Court was delivered by

T. D. SUGLA, J. - These two sales tax references are at the instance of the department. The references arise out of the assessee's assessment for the period April 1, 1971 to March 31, 1972 and out of the order passed by the Commissioner of Sales Tax under section 52 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, on an application dated April 17, 1974, by the assessee for advance determination of its liability in respect of sale of "mill board" under invoice No. 8 dated April 14, 1974. The appeals eventually came up before the Sales Tax Tribunal. By its impugned separate orders dated September 3, 1980, the Tribunal held that "mill board" was covered by entry No. 24(2) of Schedule C to the Sales Tax Act and the sales thereof were liable to sales tax accordingly.

The reasons given by the Tribunal in support of its conclusion, inter atia, were that though there was some distinction between "paper" and "board" in common parlance, factually "paper" was "thin board" and "board" was "thick paper". Having regard to the language used in the entry, "paper" included "board". There was not much difference between the manufacturing process of various types