Tea Act, 1953

C.T. Ltd. and another, engaged in the tea trade, entered into a contract with the State Trading Corporation (STC) to supply unblended Assam tea to an Iranian buyer. To fulfil this contract they purchased tea from auction brokers. The sales tax authorities demanded payment of sales tax on these purchases. The appellants…

The Supreme Court examined writ petitions challenging the West Bengal Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Act, 1989, which imposed a cess on tea estates calculated per kilogram of green tea leaves produced. The petitioners argued that the levy was a tax on tea production, falling under Union competence (Entry 84/List I) a…

The case involved challenges to State legislation levying cesses on coal-bearing land, mineral-bearing land, brick-earth, and tea estates in West Bengal, and on mineral rights in Uttar Pradesh. The Constitution Bench, by a 4:1 majority (Lahoti, J. for himself, Khare CJI, Agrawal and Lakshmanan JJ.; Sinha, J. dissenting…

The petitioners, tea companies, challenged the levy of a rural employment cess on tea estates under the West Bengal Rural Employment and Production Act, 1976, as amended in 1981 and 1982. They argued that the levy, which was imposed on the despatches of tea rather than on the land, directly impeded the free flow of tra…

The Supreme Court examined whether the Bihar Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1960 (the Market Act) could be applied to transactions involving sugarcane, sugar, molasses, wheat products, vegetable oils, rice, milk products and tea. It held that the special statutes governing sugarcane, sugar and molasses – the Bihar S…

The appellants, tea manufacturers, challenged the constitutional validity of the Tamil Nadu Scheduled Articles (Prescription of Standards) Order, 1977, which regulated tea as an essential commodity. They argued that tea is not a "foodstuff" under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and that the Central Government had …

DUNCANS INDUSTRIES Ltd., a corporate debtor managing fourteen tea gardens, defaulted on payments to operational creditor A.J. Agrochem. The creditor filed an insolvency petition under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). The debtor argued that, because the Central Government had issued a notific…

Sonapur Tea Company owned a 1,617‑bigha tea estate in Kamrup, Assam that was requisitioned by the Union Defence Department under the Defence of India Act, 1962. After a portion was de‑requisitioned, the remaining estate was deemed requisitioned under the Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property Act, 1952 (S…

The Commissioner of Central Excise issued notices to M/s Tata Tea Ltd demanding cess on its 'instant tea' under Section 25 of the Tea Act, 1953. The company contended that 'instant tea' was not 'tea' as defined in Section 3(n) and therefore the notices were illegal. The Tribunal set aside the revenue's demand, relying …