G. T. NANAVATI, J. ( 1 ) THE opponent imported within the Gandhidham Municipality machine cut PATIAS made from timber. The Octroi Clerk charged octroi at the rate of 21/2% and recovered Rs. 234-40 on the basis that what was imported by the plaintiff was covered by Entry 18 of Appendix I of Gandhidham Municipal Borough Octroi Rules. It is the case of the plaintiff that PATIAS imported by it are timber falling within Sentry 17 of Appendix I of said Rules and attracting octroi duty at the rate of 1%. It therefore demanded refund of Rs. 136-27. As Gandhidham. Municipality refused to refund the difference it filed Small Cause Suit No. 7 of 1980 in the Court of Civil Judge (J. D.) Gandhidham. In respect of another consignment for the same reason it filed Small Cause Suit No. 10 of 1980 The learned Civil Judge upheld the contention of the opponents-plaintiff and decreed both the suits Aggrieved by the judgment and decree passed in these two cases by the learned Civil Judge Gandhidham Municipality has preferred these revision applications Both these revision applications are heard together and disposed of by this common judgment ( 2 ) WHAT is contended by the Learned Advocate appearing for the applicant-Municipality is that the learned Civil Judge committed an error in interpreting Entries 17 and 18 and wrongly held that PATIAS imported by the opponent attracted duty under Entry 17 which deals with timber and not under Entry 18 which deals with all kinds of sheets and boards. It was further submitted that admittedly the PATIAS wore of thickness of about one inch. It was further submitted that admittedly the PATIAS wore of thickness of about one inch. Therefore they were rightly treated as boards made from timber it was also submitted that as there is a specific Entry for boards the PATIAS imported by the opponent wore rightly treated as boards for the purpose of Octroi duty even though the said boards are of timber and in a larger sense can be regarded ( 3 ) ON the other band it was submitted by the learned Counsel for the opponent that the PATIAS imported by the opponent can properly be described as planks and not as boards in English As they were only machine cut pieces of timber they should have been regarded as timber and covered by Entry 17 only He also submitted that machine out PATIAS are Known as timber in trade circles and amongst consumers ( 4 ) IN order to appreciate these rival contentions it will be necessary to refer to Entries 17 and 18 of the Rules They read as under ( 5 ) WE examine the Scheme of Appendix I it becomes clear that Various items or articles are grouped together and put under one general head Group A deals with food articles Group B deals with cotton and yarn material Group C deals with building material Group D deals with provision and articles of consumption Group 13 deals with machinery motors and industrial articles and Group F deals with miscellaneous articles Entry No. 39 in Miscellaneous Group F is infer alia with respect to fire wood and fuel wood of all descriptions Entries No. 17 and 18 are falling within Group C dealing with building material Therefore even when timber including Kachha wood is imported for any other use it would attract octroi under Entry No. 17 or Entry No. 18 as building material Entry No. 17 is a general entry dealing with timber and it includes kachha wood bamboos and ballies Timber can be in any form. It can be in the form of a log or it can be in the form of a plank or board or even in smaller pieces known by other names Entry No. 18 deals with all kinds of boards and sheets and articles made from them and not specified elsewhere in the Schedule The word all in Entry No. 18 indicates that a board even though made out of timber is included within that Entry. It is a specific Entry dealing with sheets boards and articles made therefrom Therefore if it is found that what is imported is a sheet or a board or an article made therefrom then that Entry will become applicable and not Entry No. 17 which deals with timber generally A board or an article made from timber can in general sense be regarded as timber but as we are having two separate entries in the Rules attracting different rates of duty it will have to be hold that if what is imported is a sheet or board or an article made therefrom then that would fall under Entry No. 18 and not under Entry No. 17. ( 6 ) WHETHER in this case the goods imported by the opponent attracted Entry No. 17 or Entry No. 18 will have to be decided by reference to the evidence led in the case and the meaning of the words sheet and boards as used in Entry No. 18. ( 6 ) WHETHER in this case the goods imported by the opponent attracted Entry No. 17 or Entry No. 18 will have to be decided by reference to the evidence led in the case and the meaning of the words sheet and boards as used in Entry No. 18. As stated above the evidence show that the opponent has imported PATIAS which were about 9 to 12 in width 36 to 48 in length and about one inch thick The learned Civil Judge held that as the PATIAS were of thickness of half an inch to one inch and more they could not be described as thin material He also hold that the word timber in used In a larger sense in Entry No. 17 as it includes kachha wood He also held that PATIAS imported by the opponent were only machine cut ant therefore they were only pieces of timber The learned Civil Judge rightly came to the conclusion that the PATIAS imported by the opponent cannot be said to be this material But the only conclusion that can be drawn therefrom is that they could not have been regarded as sheets What is the consequence of that finding has not been considered by the learned Civil Judge He did not decide whether they were boards or not as contemplated by Entry No. 18. ( 7 ) TIMBER means that wood which is generally used as building material. The Rules also make a distinction between building material and fire wood or wood meant for fuel purposes Group A of the Schedule dealing with building material again makes a distinction between timber and all kind of sheets of boards Therefore if the item of building material in question can properly be termed as a sheet or a board or is so known in the market then octroi thereon will have to be paid under Entry No. 18. If the item is other than the one contemplated by Entry No. 18 then octroi thereon will have to be paid under Entry No. 17. If the item is other than the one contemplated by Entry No. 18 then octroi thereon will have to be paid under Entry No. 17. ( 8 ) ACCORDING to dictionaries word sheet moans a rectangular piece of linen cotton etc or more or less a flat piece of thin material Material may be anything buts piece thereof can be called a sheet if it is flat and thin Meaning of the word board as given in the Oxford English Dictionary is as under :1 A piece of timber sawn thin and having considerable extent of surface usually a rectangular piece of much greater length then breadth a thin plank. Rarely used without the article as is made of board i. e. of thin wood. Technically board is distinguished from plank by its thinness it ought to be more than 4 inches in width and not more than 21/2 in thickness but is generally much thinner. Word plank has the following meaning :1 A long flat piece of smoothed timber thicker than a BOARD; space a length of timber sawn for building or other purposes to a thickness of from two to six inches width of nine inches or more and eight fact or upwards in length. Word plank has the following meaning :1 A long flat piece of smoothed timber thicker than a BOARD; space a length of timber sawn for building or other purposes to a thickness of from two to six inches width of nine inches or more and eight fact or upwards in length. ( 9 ) IT becomes apparent from the above dictionary meanings of words sheet board and plank that a piece of wood can be regarded as a sheet a board or a plank depending upon its thickness If it is very thin it has to be described as a sheet It it has thickness of about 2 to 21/2 then it has to be regarded as a board and if its thickness is more than 2 or 21/2 then it has to be considered as a plank provided it is sufficiently long and broad so as to be called either a board or a plank ( 10 ) WHAT was contended by the learned Advocate for the opponent was that PATIAS i. e. pieces of timber imported by the opponent can properly be described as planks and not as board or sheets He is only partly right Considering the evidence led in this case they cannot be said to be sheets But it is not possible to accept his contention that they are not boards and they are correctly speaking plants He submitted that word PATIA in Gujarati would mean a plank in English He also submitted that that is how they are known by the traders and consumers Word PATIA according to Modern Gujarati English Dictionary published by Director of Languages Gujarat State is a board Therefore it is not possible to accept his contention that the word PATIA in Gujarati means plank and not a board No evidence was led before the trial Court to show that only a plank and not a board is regarded as PATIA in trade parlance Merely because the plaintiff in his evidence stated that the PATIAS imported by him would fall under Entry No. 17 it cannot be said that the plaintiff has proved that only planks are known as PATIAS amongst timber merchants and consumers Therefore going by the evidence led in the case it will have to be held that the pieces of timber imported by the opponent were rightly treated as boards falling under Entry No. 18 The applicant had therefore rightly Collected octroi duty on the same at the rate of 29%. The learned Civil Judge thus committed an error in holding that the PATIAS imported by the opponent were covered by Entry No. 17 ( 11 ) IN the result these revision applications are allowed The judgment and decree passed by the learned Civil Judge in both these cases are set aside and the two suits filed by the opponents are dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs throughout Rule in each of these revision applications is made absolute with no order as to costs (KMV) revision allowed. .