The judgment of the Court was delivered by

S. D. DAVE, J. - The Gujarat Sales Tax Tribunal at Ahmedabad has referred to this High Court the following question of law under section 69 of the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969.

"Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of this case, the Gujarat Sales Tax Tribunal was right in law in holding that the process of transferring and/or collecting and/or filling liquid petroleum gas (L.P.G.) from a big container into cylinders was not a process of manufacture as defined under section 2(16) of the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969 and that the opponent is entitled to the deduction of resales of gas purchased from registered dealers on their turnover ?"

2. The facts and circumstances under which the present reference has been made by the Tribunal at the instance of the Revenue may be noticed thus. The assessee-company is carrying on the business of reselling liquid petroleum gas (hereinafter to as "L.P.G."). The assessee is a registered dealer under the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969. The assessee used to purchase L.P.G. in bulk from M/s. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and fill in the same into cylinders and resell them. The question,