Page 182 - GSTL_23rd April 2020_Vol 35_Part 4

508 GST LAW TIMES [ Vol. 35
property it is covered under the term ‘plant and machinery’ since Accropods
which are used to construct the breakwater are interlocking device fixed to the
earth by foundation are nothing but apparatus. In order to appreciate the conten-
tion let us have a look at the various meanings of the term ‘Plant’.
Cambridge Dictionary
• the land, buildings, machinery, apparatus, and fixtures employed in
carrying on a trade or an industrial business
• b : a factory or workshop for the manufacture of a particular prod-
uct also : POWER PLANT
• c : the total facilities available for production or service
• d : the buildings and other physical equipment of an institution
• place where an industrial or manufacturing process takes place.
Cambridge (Business English)
[U]
• machines used in industry
• a factory in which a particular product is made or power is pro-
duced :
• a large, heavy machine or vehicle used in industry, for building
roads, etc.
Collins Dictionary
Plant is large machinery that is used in industrial processes.
...investment in plant and equipment.
Oxford Dictionary
a factory or place where power is produced or an industrial process
takes place
• a nuclear power plant
• a processing/manufacturing plant
• Japanese car plants
• a water treatment plant
• a chemical/steel/coal plant
26. A reading of the above makes it clear that ‘plant’ generally means
and includes a place where industrial activity takes place or a factory where cer-
tain material is produced or big machinery used to carry out certain processes of
production. The term ‘plant and machinery’ is used in conjunction with each
other and by the application of the principle of ‘ejusdem generis’, it is clear that the
meaning to be given to the term ‘machinery’ should take its color from the word
‘plant’. The term ‘plant and machinery’ therefore should be interpreted to mean
a place where certain commercial/manufacturing activities/processes of produc-
tion are carried out with the help of inputs. In the present case, the breakwater
wall or the Accropods that are an essential part of it certainly do not qualify as
‘plant and machinery’. The explanation to Section 17(5)(d) says that the term
‘plant and machinery’ covers apparatus, equipment and machinery. The break-
water wall constructed on the sea to protect the ship from high waves can hardly
be called machinery or apparatus or equipment. Neither in common parlance nor
in technical parlance would one associate a civil structure like a breakwall to be
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