SC notice to tax dept on Parle Agro plea vs HC ruling toasted bread as rusk
This story was originally published at 12:44 IST on 20 June 2025
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NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Additional Commissioner of Sales Tax (Appeal) Odisha, Cuttack, on Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd.'s plea against an order by the High Court of Orissa that the company's toasted bread was 'rusk' under the Orissa Value Added Tax Act, 2004 and, hence, taxable under that category. The apex court will hear the case next in September.
Parle Agro had argued that as its product was bread under Entry 34 in Schedule A of the 2004 Act, it was exempted from value added tax. However, the tax department classified Parle's product under the category of Entry 77B in Schedule B of the 2004 Act, which included bhujia, namkin, farshan, and rusk, or hardened bread.
The tax department considered Parle Agro's product to be 'namkeen', the petitioner said, adding that the product was actually bread and, therefore, attracted neither levy nor collection of value added tax.
According to the high court, the 2004 Act provides for two separate entries in respect of bread – when something more is done to bread to result in toasted bread, it is included in a separate taxable entry. "Though entry 77B in Schedule B includes products other than rusk, but given meaning by the entry of rusk to be hardened bread, the tribunal (Odisha Sales Tax Tribunal) cannot be faulted for coming to a finding that the petitioner's product is hardened bread as in toast," it had said. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Avishek Dutta
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