Somnath Iyer, J.
1. The appellant in these two appeals is a dealer who manufactures silk sarees and other textiles. With respect to his turnover for the assessment years 1959-60 and 1960-61, the Commercial Tax Officer made an assessment by which he exempted from payment of tax, sales of sarees for the manufacture of which in addition to pure silk, artificial silk and lace had been used. This exemption rested on item 8A of the Fifth Schedule to the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957, as it stood at the relevant point of time. That item reads :
'FIFTH SCHEDULE Goods exempted from tax under section 8. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sl. No. Description of goods. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 8A. All varieties of textiles, namely, cotton, woollen or silken including rayon, art silk or nylon whether manufactured in mills or power-looms including hosiery cloth in lengths, but exclusive of pure silk.' ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. The Commercial Tax Officer was of the opinion that since sarees in respect of which he recognised the exemption were not made out of pure silk but contained also art silk yarn and lace, they stood exempted under this item. The Commercial Tax Officer thought that textiles for whose manufacture artificial silk yarn and lace were used along with pure silk yarn fell outside item 7 of the Second Schedule which charged tax at four per cent on sales of pure silk textiles woven on power-looms.
3. But, his successor, who was of a contrary view, exercised power under section 12A of the Act and revised the assessment made by his predecessor. In the course of his order, he stated :
'Since pure silk cloth also includes pure silk mixed with art silk and gold thread, it was proposed to levy 4 per cent tax on the said turnover .......... As per the decision of the Honourable High Court of Mysore, in Canara Jewellers and Officer v. The Commercial Tar Officer, South Kanara (1962] 13 S.T.C. 668.), bullion means not only pure gold or silver but also an alloy of gold or silver with a small percentage of other metals. Applying this even mixed pure silk is to be treated as pure silk cloth only.'
4. Against this order made by the second Commercial Tax Officer, the appellant appealed to the Deputy Commissioner, who had no hesitation in reversing the order from which there was an appeal. The Deputy Commissioner was of the view that cloth for the manufacture of which artificial silk and lace had been used along with pure silk was not pure silk cloth.
5. But the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes reversed this order made by the Deputy Commissioner and restored that of the second Commercial Tax Officer in the exercise of the power conferred on him by section 22A of the Act.
6. He, however, accepted the statement made on behalf of the appellant in his written objections produced before him that the sarees were woven 'partly with pure silk yarn and partly with art silk yarn and with kota lace'. But he thought that the sarees were pure silk sarees, and that, therefore, the turnover relating to them was chargeable to tax at four per cent.
7. In these appeals, Mr. Srinivasan appearing for the appellant, made more than one submission. One of them was that the view taken by the Commissioner that the sarees were pure silk sarees, and therefore, did not fall within item 8A of the Fifth Schedule to the Act, was unsupportable. Since, in our opinion, this argument is sound, it is unnecessary for us to discuss the other submissions.
8. What is plain from item 8A of the Fifth Schedule to the Act is that all varieties of textiles such as those to which it refers, are exempt from taxation, unless they are textiles made out of pure silk. That exemption effaces the liability arising out of items 2 to 7 of the Second Schedule to the Act and so it was that if the sarees manufactured by the appellant did not stand exempted under item 8A of the Fifth Schedule, they would be liable for the payment of tax specified against item 7 of the Second Schedule.
9. But the undisputed fact on which even the Commissioner proceeded was that the sarees in respect of which the first Commercial Tax Officer granted the exemption were manufactured by the employment of pure silk yarn along with artificial silk yarn and gold thread. Although in some parts of his order, the second Commercial Tax Officer embarked on a discussion as to the purpose for which artificial silk yarn was used, he was of the opinion that such artificial silk yarn was used for what is described as 'buttas'.
10. 'Buttas', it is common knowledge, form parts of the fabric of the saree the size of which is not uniform nor is the total area occupied by the 'butta' always the same. It may be that in some cases the area occupied by the 'buffs' is larger than the remaining part of the saree and in some cases the other way about. It should be enough to observe that with respect to that question, no one made ally investigation.
11. But what is, however, clear is that everyone including the second Commercial Tax Officer who embarked upon a revision under section 12A of the Act had no doubt in his mind that the material employed for the manufacture of the sarees did not consist only of pure silk yam but also included artificial silk yam and gold thread.
12. It is unnecessary for us to consider in this case, the effect of the employment of gold thread for the borders of the sarees since we are of the opinion that the use of artificial silk yam for the manufacture of the sarees, even though such yarn was used for the 'buttas', took the sarees out of the category of 'pure silk' within the meaning of item 8A of the Fifth Schedule to the Act.
13. We are not concerned in this case with the question whether as to what would be the description of textiles manufactured by the employment of pure silk yarn and artificial silk yam. The question does not properly arise in these appeals since the only matter to which, we should address ourselves is whether the Commissioner was right in taking the view that though in the manufacture of the sarees pure silk yam and artificial silk yarn are both used, they are nevertheless pure silk sarees. If they are not, the order made by the Commissioner must fall to the ground since the only basis of his order disappears.
14. The expression 'pure silk' occurring in item 8A of the Fifth Schedule to the Act has to be understood either in the sense in which it is accepted in the course of business or trade or in the sense in which it is ordinarily comprehended. But, in whatever sense these words are understood, what is dear is that the words 'pure silk' textiles mean textiles for the manufacture of which only pure silk yam is used. Rut, if the material used consists of both pure silk yam and artificial silk yam, the assertion that that saree is a pure silk saree cannot be tree or accepted. The expression 'pure silk' cannot be so understood whether the meaning to be given to it is the popular meaning, or the meaning given to it in trade.
15. A merchant does not in his trading operations describe a saree, which admittedly contains pure and artificial silk yam, a pure silk saree. Even if he does, the purchaser who wants a pure silk saree does not buy it.
16. These appeals succeed. We, therefore, set aside the orders made by the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, and restore the orders made by the Deputy Commissioner. The appellant will be entitled to costs in these appeals. Advocate's fee Re. 100 one set.
17. Appeals allowed.