PETITIONER:
STATE OF WEST BENGAL & ORS.
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
WASHI AHMED ETC.
DATE OF JUDGMENT07/03/1977
BENCH:
BHAGWATI, P.N.
FAZALALI, SYED MURTAZA
CITATION:
1977 AIR 1638 1977 SCR (3) 149
1977 SCC (2) 246
ACT
Taxing statute--Principles of construction of words in a
taxing statute--Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, Sched-
ule I, Item 6--"Green ginger",whether means a "vegetable"
falling within the category of goods described as "vegeta-
bles, green or dried commonly known as subji, tarkari or
sak" and thus exempt from tax liability.
HEADNOTE
Section 6(1) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act 1941
exempts from tax liability "vegetables, green or dried
commonly known as subji, tarkari or sak" when not sold in
sealed containers. The Sales Tax Authorities levied sales
tax on "green ginger" sold by the respondents, taking the
view that inasmuch as green ginger is. used to add flavour
and taste to food. it is not "vegetable commonly known as
subji, tarkari or sak". A writ petition challenging the
validity of the orders of assessment was allowed by the
Calcutta High Court which held that green ginger is vegeta-
ble within the meaning of that expression as used in Item 6
of the First Schedule to the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act,
1941.
Dismissing the State appeals by Special Leave the Court,
HELD: (1) Green ginger is included. within the meaning
of the words "vegetables---commonly known as subji, tarkari-
or sak" in Item 6 of Schedule I and its sales are exempt
from tax under s. 6 of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act,
1941. [152 D]
(2) The word "vegetable" though not defined in the Act,
being a word of every day use, must be construed not in any
technical sense, nor from any botanical point of view but as
understood m common parlance i.e. denoting class of vegeta-
bles which are grown in a kitchen garden or in a farm and
are used for the table. The word "vegetable" in Item 6 of
Schedule I to the Act, so construed, by giving its popular
sense meaning, "that sense which people conversant with the
subject-matter with which the statute is dealing would
attribute to it" denotes those classes of vegetables which
are grown in a kitchen garden or in a farm and are used for
the table. Green ginger obviously is a vegetable grown in a
kitchen garden or in a farm and it is used for the table.
It may not be used as a principal item of the meal, but it
certainly forms part of the meal as a subsidiary item.
Green ginger is generally regarded as included within the
meaning of the word "vegetable" as understood in common
parlance. 1[150 F-H, 151 G-H, 152 A]
Ramavatar Badhaiprasad v. Assistant Sales Tax Officer
Akola, A.I.R. 1961 S.C. 1325; M/s. Motipur Zamindary Co.
Ltd. v. State of Bihar A.I.R. 1962 S.C. 660, applied.
Madhya Pradesh Pan Merchants’ Association, Santra Mar-
ket, Nagpur v. State of Madhya Pradesh 7 S.T. Cases 99 at
102, referred to.
Grenfell v. I.R.C. (1876) 1 Ex. D. 242 at 248; Planters
Nut and Chocolate Co. Ltd. v. The King (1951) 1 D.L.R. 385;
200 Chests of Tea (1824) 9 Wheaton (U.S.) 430, at 438 quoted
with approval.
JUDGMENT
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 1546-
1551 of 1971.
(From 1he Judgment and Order dated 20-12-1968 of the
Calcutta High Court in Appeals from Original Orders Nos.
556-559, 571 and 572 of 1967)
150
Lal Narain Sinha, Sol. General and G.S. Chatterice, for
the appellants.
Purushottam Chatterjee and Ratbin Des, for the respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
BHAGWATI, J.--The short question which arises for deter-
mination in these appeals is whether green ginger falls
within the category of goods described as "vegetables, green
or dried, commonly known as "sabji, tarkeri or ask" in Item
(6) of Schedule I to the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act,
1941. If it is covered by this description, it would be
exempt from sales tax imposed under the provisions of that
Act. The Sales Tax authorities held that green ginger is
used to. add Havour and. taste to food and it is, therefore,
not vegetable commonly known as sabji, tarkeri or ask". The
orders of the Sales Tax authorities were challenged in a
writ petition filed under article 226 of the Constitution
and a Single Judge of the High Court who. heard the writ
petition disagreed with the view taken by the Sales Tax
authorities and held that green ginger is vegetable within
the meaning of that expression as used in Item (6) of the
First Schedule to the Act. This view of the learned Single’
Judge was affirmed by a Division Bench of the High Court on
appeal under clause (15) of the Letters Patent. Hence the
present appeal by the State with special leave obtained from
this Court.
The Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 levies sales
tax on the taxable turnover of a dealer computed in accord-
ance with the provisions of that Act. Section 6, sub-sec-
tion (1) provides that no tax shall be payable under the Act
on the sale of goods specified in the first column of Sched-
ule I, subject to the conditions and exceptions, if any, set
out in the corresponding entry in the second column thereof
and Item (6) of Schedule I specifies in the first column
"vegetable, green or dried, commonly known as "Sabji, tar-
kari or ask" so that no. tax is payable on the sale of goods
falling within this category, subject to the exception set
out in the second column, namely, that they would be liable
to bear tax "when sold in sealed containers." It was common
ground in the present case that green ginger was not sold by
the assessee in sealed containers and the only question
which, therefore, requires to be considered is whether green
ginger can be regarded as vegetable commonly known as
’sabji, tarkari or sak’. Now, the word ’vegetable’ is not
defined in the Act but it is well settled as a result of
several decisions of this Court of which we may mention only
two, namely, Ram avatar Budhaiprasad v. Assistant Sales Tax
Officer, kola(1) and M/s Motipur Jamindary Co. Ltd. v. State
of Bihar(2)) that this word, being a word of every day use,
must be construed not in any technical sense, nor from any
botanical point of view, but as understood in common par-
lance. The question which arose in Ramavatar’s case
(supra) was whether betel leaves are "vegetables"
(1) A.I.R. 1961 S.C. 1325.
(2) A.I.R. 1962 S.C. 660.
151
and this court held that they are not included within that
term. This Court quoted with approval the following passage
from the judgment of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in
Madhya Pradesh Pan Merchants’ Association, Santra Market,
Nagput v. State of Madhya Pradesh(1):
"In our opinion, the word "vegetables"
cannot be given the comprehensive meaning the
term bears in natural history and has not been
given that meaning in taxing statutes before.
The term "vegetables" is to be understood as
commonly understood denoting those classes of
vegetable matter which are grown in kitchen
gardens and are used for the table.",
and observed that "the word ’vegetable’ in taxing statutes
is to be understood as in common parlance i.e. denoting
class of vegetables which are grown in a kitchen garden or
in a farm and are used for the table". This meaning of the
word ’vegetable’ was reiterated by this Court in Motipur
zamindary case (supra) where this Court was called upon to
consider whether sugarcane can be regarded as vegetable and
it was held by this Court that sugarcane cannot be said to
fail within the definition of the word ’vegetable’.
It is interesting to note that the same principle of
construction in relation to words used in a taxing statute
has also been adopted in English, Canadian and American
courts. Pollock B. pointed out in Grenfell v. I.R.C.(2)
that "if a statute contains language which is capable of
being construed in a popular sense, such a statute is not to
be construed according to the strict or technical meaning of
the language contained in it, but is to be construed in its
popular sense, meaning, of course, by the words "popular
sense" that sense which people conversant with the subject-
matter with which the statute is dealing would attribute to
it.’" So also the Supreme Court of Canada said in Planters
Nut and Chocolate Co. Ltd. v. The King,(3) while interpret-
ing the words ’fruit’ and ’vegetable’ in the Excise Act:
"They are ordinary words in every day use and are, there-
fore, to be construed according to their popular sense".
The same rule was expressed in slightly different language
by Story, J., in 200 Chests of Tea(4) where the learned
Judge said that "the particular words used by the Legisla-
ture in the denomination of articles are to be understood
according to the common commercial understanding of the
terms used, and not in their scientific or technical sense,
for the Legislature does "not suppose our merchants to be
naturalists, or geologists, or botanists" ".
It will, therefore, be seen that the word ’vegetable’ in
Item (6) of Schedule I to the Act must be construed as
understood in common parlance and it must be given its
popular sense meaning "that sense which people conversant
with the subject-matter with which the statute is dealing
would attribute to it" and so construed, it denotes those
classes of vegetables which are grown in a kitchen garden or
in a farm and are used for the table. Now, obviously green
ginger is a vegetable
(1) 7 S.T.C. 99 at 102.
(2) (1876) 1 Ex. D. 242 at 248.
(3) (1951) 1 D.L.R. 385.
(4) (1824), 9 Wheaton (U.S.) 430 at 438.
11--240SCI/77
152
grown in a kitchen garden or in a farm and is used for the
table. It may not be used as a principal item of the meal
but it certainly forms part of the meal as a subsidiary
item. It is an item which is ordinarily sold by a vegetable
vendor and both the vegetable vendor who every day deals in
vegetables and the housewife who. daily goes to the market
to purchase vegetables would unhesitatingly re and green
ginger as vegetable. The assessee in fact placed evidence
before the Sales Tax authorities showing that the Railway
authorities also treated green ginger as vegetable for the
purpose of railway tariff and charged for the carriage of
green ginger at the reduced rate applicable to vegetables
and even the Corporation of Calcutta included green ginger
in the category of vegetables in the market bulletin pub-
lished by it fortnightly showing the rates in the municipal
market. There can, therefore, be little doubt that green
ginger is generally regarded as included within the meaning
of the word ’vegetable’ as understood in common parlance.
That a part, we find that Item (6) speaks not simply of
vegetables but "vegetables--commonly known as sabji, tar-
kari or sak" and the Division Bench of the High Court held
green ginger to fall within the meaning of the words "sabji,
tarkari or sak". We should certainly be very slow to disturb
a meaning placed on these words in Bengali language by two
judges of the High Court who may reasonably be expected to
be quite conversant with that language. We are accordingly
of the view that green ginger is included within the meaning
of the words "vegetables--commonly known as sabji, tarkari
or sak" in Item (6) of Schedule I and its sales must be held
to be, exempt from tax under section 6 of the Act.
The result is that the appeals fail and are dismissed
with costs. Costs will be only m one set.
S.R. Appeals dismissed.
153