Claim for concessional rate of tax.

The State is the appellant. The appeals are against the judgment of Veeraswami, J., by which he directed writs of mandamus to issue against the Commercial Tax Officer and the Deputy Commissioner for Commercial Taxes in the following circumstances. The two petitioners before the learned Judge, the respondents here, are manufacturers of vanaspati. The writ petitioner, the Mettur Chemical and Industrial Corporation, also manufactures soap. For the manufacture of either article groundnut oil is essential. In the case of certain commodities, sales of which are taxable under the Madras General Sales Tax Act at a single point, the Act provides that where any one of such articles is used as a component part in the manufacture of any other article liable to single point levy of tax, the sale of the first mentioned article shall be taxed at the concessional rate of 1 per cent only, instead of the rate specified in the First Schedule to the Act, which lists out articles liable to single point levy. Section 3 (3) of the Act, which provides for the lower rate of tax indicated, contains a proviso which is in these terms:

" Provided that the provisions of this sub-section shall not apply to any sale unless the dealer selling the goods furnishes to the Assessing Authority in the prescribed manner a declaration duly filled in and signed by the dealer to whom the goods are sold containing the prescribed particulars in a prescribed form obtained from the prescribed authority."

Both vegetable oils (Serial No. 20) and vegetable products (Serial No. 45) and soaps (Serial No. 37) find place in the First Schedule. The requirement of the section and the proviso referred to call upon the dealer who sells either vanaspati or soap, in the manufacture of which he uses groundnut oil, to furnish a declaration in the prescribed form. In such an event, the sale of vegetable oil, which is normally subject to a 3 per cent. rate of tax at a single point, is taxed in these circumstances only at 1 per cent. The petitioners in the two cases applied to the appropriate authority for being supplied with the requisite blank forms. The relevant rule is rule 22 of the Madras General Tax Rules. Broadly stated, this rule requires that the declaration shall be furnished in a particular form, and a blank declaration form should be obtained only from the Assessing Authority on application. The relevant declaration has to be filled in by the selling dealer and this has to be attached to the return of turnover of the assessee. The form itself is merely a declaration by the purchasing dealer (of groundnut oil in the present case) certifying that the goods purchased by him are for use by him as a component part of other goods specified in Schedule I. As stated already, the petitioners applied to the appropriate authority for the prescribed blank declaration forms. The Commercial Tax Officer refused to supply the forms, expressing his view that the raw materials used in the manufacture of the goods mentioned by the petitioner go in

" as ingredients in the manufacture and do not form separable component parts of such goods. The concession under sub-section (3) of section 3 is not, therefore, applicable in such cases,"

and this order of the Commercial Tax Officer was concurred in by the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes. It was the refusal to supply the forms that led to the filing of the Writ Petitions.

Veeraswami, J., examined the matter on merits and took the view that the concession would be available to the petitioners, who manufactured either vanaspati or soap with the use of groundnut oil as a component part thereof, and in that view directed the issue of writs.

In appeal, learned Counsel for the appellant-State sought to canvass the correctness of the interpretation of section 3 (3) of the Act. It seems to us however that in the light of the limited relief that was sought by the petitioners, it is unnecessary that this Court should at this stage give an autho