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PETITIONER: ANNAPURNA BISCUIT MANUFACTURING CO., KANPUR

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX, U.P., LUCKNOW

DATE OF JUDGMENT28/07/1981

BENCH: VENKATARAMIAH, E.S. (J) BENCH: VENKATARAMIAH, E.S. (J) PATHAK, R.S. ERADI, V. BALAKRISHNA (J)

CITATION:  1981 AIR 1656            1982 SCR  (1) 149  1981 SCC  (3) 542        1981 SCALE  (3)1101

ACT:      U.P.  Sales   Tax  Act,  1948  (Act  XV  of  1948)  and Notification dated 6th October, 1971 issued under section 3- A (2) of the Act providing for lower rate of Sales Tax at 2% of the  turnover of "Pakaya Hua Bhojan" (cooked food)- Words and phrases-Whether "biscuits" fall under "cooked food".

HEADNOTE:      Dismissing the appeal, the Court ^      HELD:  1.   In  the   context  and  background  of  the notification "biscuit"  cannot be  treated as "cooked food". In   the    Hindi   text   of   the   notification,   issued contemporaneously  with   the  English  version,  the  words (cooked food)  were used  as the equivalent for cooked food. Ordinarily biscuit  is not  understood as "cooked food". Nor any one  asking for  some "cooked  food" in  a hotel will be served with  "biscuits" in  Uttar Pradesh. The item has been correctly treated as "unclassified commodity" and tax levied accordingly. [151F,G,H]      Commissioner of  Sales Tax  v. Jassu Ram Bakery Dealer, 38 S.T.C.  461; Commissioner  of Sales Tax Madhya Pradesh v. Shri Bailabhdas Iswardas, 21 S.T.C. 309, approved.      2. It  is a  well settled rule of construction that the words used  in a  law imposing  a tax should be construed in the same  way in  which  they  are  understood  in  ordinary parlance in  the area  in which  the law  is in force. If an expression is capable of a wider meaning as well as narrower meaning the  question whether  the  wider  or  the  narrower meaning should  be given  depends on  the  context  and  the background of the case. [151 C-E]      Hinde  v.  Allmond,  87  L.J.  K.B.  893,  quoted  with approval.

JUDGMENT:      CIVIL APPELLATE  JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 3133 of 1979      Appeal by  special leave  from the  judgment and  order dated the  30th July,  1979 of  the Allahabad  High Court in

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Sales Tax Revision No. 573 of 1979. 150      G.L. Sanghi,  Bharat Ji  Aggarwal, Naresh  Kumar Sharma and Vineet Kumar for the appellant.      S.C. Manchanda and Mrs. Sobha Dixit for the respondent.      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by      VENKATARAMIAH, J.  The short point for consideration in this appeal  is whether the expression ’cooked food’ used in certain notifications  issued under  the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 (U.P.  Act XV of 1948) (hereinafter referred to as ’the Act’) can  be construed  as  including  within  its  meaning ’biscuits’ also.      The assessee,  the appellant  herein, is  a  registered firm engaged  in the  business of  manufacture and  sale  of biscuits intended  for human  consumption. The assessee is a registered dealer  under  the  Act.  During  the  assessment proceedings under  the Act for the year 1972-73 the assessee claimed that the turn-over relating to biscuits manufactured and sold  by it  amounting to Rs. 35,09,920.38 P. was liable to be taxed at two per cent which was the rate prescribed by a notification  issued by  the State  Government for  cooked food contending that ’cooked food’ included ’biscuits’ also. The notification relied on was one issued on October 6, 1971 under  subsection   (2)  of   section  3-A  of  the  Act  in supersession of  an earlier notification dated July 1, 1969. In both  the notifications the tax was fixed at two per cent of the  turn-over payable  at all points of sale in the case of cooked  food. The Assistant Commissioner (Tax Assessment) Sales Tax,  Kanpur who  was the assessing authority rejected the contention  of the  assessee that  cooked food  included biscuits also  and imposed  tax at  the rate  of three and a half per cent on the turn-over relating to biscuits treating the same  as an  unclassified  commodity.  An  appeal  filed against the  order of  the assessing  authority  before  the Deputy Commissioner  Sales Tax  and a  further appeal before the Judge (Appeal) Sales Tax, Lucknow were unsuccessful. The High Court  of Allahabad also declined to interfere with the said order.  This appeal  by special  leave is filed against the order  of the  High  Court  under  Article  136  of  the Constitution.      The only ground urged before us is that biscuits should have been  treated by  the authorities  under the Act and by the High Court as cooked food and sales tax should have been levied on the turnover of biscuits at the rate prescribed in respect of  cooked food  under the  notification referred to above. The argument urged on 151 behalf of  the appellant  is that biscuit which was consumed by human  being for  nourishment is  food and  since  it  is prepared by  baking which  is a  kind of  cooking process it should be  treated as  cooked food.  Relying on some foreign English dictionaries  it is  contended  that  cooking  means preparation of  food by  application of  heat as by boiling, baking, roasting, broiling etc. and biscuit should therefore be treated  as cooked  food. What is of significance in this case is  that the  Hindi version  of the notification issued uses the  expression cooked  food (pakaya  hua  bhojan)  for ’cooked food’ found in the notification in English language.      It is  a well  settled rule  of construction  that  the words used  in a  law imposing  a tax should be construed in the same  way in  which  they  are  understood  in  ordinary parlance in  the area  in which  the law  is in force. If an expression is capable of a wider meaning as well as narrower meaning the  question whether  the  wider  or  the  narrower meaning should  be given  depends on  the  context  and  the

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background of the case. In Hinde v. Allmond the question was whether tea  was an  "article of food" within the meaning of an Order  designed to  prohibit the  hoarding of food namely Food Hoarding  Order of 1917. The learned judges held it was not even  though in some other decisions it had been held to be an "article of food". Shearman, J. one of the judges said that  he   rested  his   judgment  on   the   common   sense interpretation of  the word  ’food’ in the Order, apart from its meaning in any other statute’. It is interesting to note that in  a case before the Allahabad High Court in Annapurna Biscuit Manufacturing  Co. v. State of U.P. the assessee had contended that  biscuit was  an article of confectionery and that contention was negatived. It is relevant to note, as we have mentioned  earlier, that  when the  Hindi text  of  the notification was  issued contemporaneously  with the English version, the  words (’pakaya  hua bhojan’)  were used as the equivalent of the words ’cooked food’.      It may be that biscuit is served at tea time and in its wider  meaning   ’cooked  food’  may  include  biscuit.  But ordinarily biscuit  is not  understood as  cooked food. If a person goes  to a  hotel or  restaurant and  asks  for  some cooked food  or cooked  food (’pakaya hua bhojan’) certainly he will  not be served with biscuits in Uttar Pradesh. While it is  not necessary to state in the present case as to what all items  may be  called as  cooked food, we can definitely say that  in the  context and background of the notification biscuit cannot be treated as cooked food. 152      The High  Court of  Allahabad has in an earlier case in Commissioner of  Sales Tax  v. Jassu  Ram Bakery Dealer held that biscuit  was not  cooked food. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh has  also taken  the same  view in  Commissioner  of Sales Tax  Madhya Pradesh  v. Shri  Ballabhdas Iswardas.  We approve of the views expressed in the aforesaid decisions.      There is  no ground  to interfere with the orders under appeal. In  the result,  this appeal fails and is dismissed. No costs. S.R.                                       Appeal dismissed. 153