The judgment of the court was delivered by

GULATI, J. - This is a reference under section 11(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act. The Additional Judge (Revisions), Sales Tax, Lucknow, at the instance of the assessee, has referred the following question for the opinion of this court :

"Whether ammonia paper and ferro paper fall within the category of paper ?"

The assessee deals in stationery and drawing materials. Among the articles sold by the assessee are ammonia paper and ferro paper. During the assessment year 1966-67, a question arose as to the rate of tax on the turnover of these articles. The assessee's contention was that they were unclassified goods and their turnover was liable to tax at the general rate of 2 per cent., as prescribed by the charging section 3 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The Sales Tax Officer, on the other hand, obviously relying upon a notification dated 1st July, 1966, held that these articles were paper and were liable to tax at 6 per cent. The assessee's appeal and revision were dismissed by the Assistant Commissioner (Judicial), Sales Tax, and by the revising authority. Hence this reference.

The relevant notification is ST-3124/X-1012(4) dated 1st July, 1966. It is a notification under section 3-A of the Act and prescribes a rate of 6 per cent. on the turnover of "paper other than hand-made paper". The contention put forth on behalf of the assessee is that the articles in question, even though called as paper, are, in fact, not paper at all, and, as no specific rate of tax has been prescribed for these articles in any of the notifications issued by the State Government, they must be regarded as unclassified goods and charged to tax at the general rate of 2 per cent. at multiple points.

Admittedly, ammonia paper and ferro paper are chemically coated paper used for obtaining prints and sketches of site plans. The prints and sketches of site plans are obtained not by pen or pencil but by the chemical coating on the paper. If exposed to light for a long time, the chemical evaporates and what is left behind is not used for drawing or for any other purposes for which a paper is used. The process by which ammonia and ferro paper is produced is not set out in the order passed by the sales tax authorities, but in paragraph 6 of the assessee's revision application, the process has been set out, which seems to have been admitted between the parties. This is what has been stated in paragraph 6 :

"The ferro and ammonia paper is made of paper of rough and special texture by applying a chemical process and giving chemical coating thereon. The chemicals which are used are dyes, tartaric acid, theriac, ethylene, glycol and some other chemicals. These chemicals are absorbed by the base paper and the coated paper is again passed through another set of rollers so that the chemicals are properly and evenly impregnated in the base paper. It is only these chemicals coating which are important for making the use of ammonia and ferro paper, otherwise it is nothing but an ordinary rough base paper. This ferro and ammonia paper has got only this specific use of obtaining prints and sketches of site plans and it cannot be used as an ordinary paper because of these special texture and its chemical properties."

The word "paper" has not been defined in the Act or under the Rules, and, as such, it has to be given the meaning which it has in the ordinary parlance. Merely because these articles are called paper is not decisive of the question. The real question is as to whether they are paper as understood generally. Paper, as understood in the common parlance, is the paper which is used for printing, writing and packing purposes. For example, toilet paper, even though it is called paper, is not understood as such. It is an article of toiletry and would be a toilet requisite. The dictionary meaning of the word "paper" or the scientific or technical name cannot be of any help in deciding the qu