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 GS 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 vs Assistant Sales Tax Officer kola1 and Ms Motipur Jamindary Co Ltd vs State of Bihar2 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  2  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 vs State of Madhya Pradesh1 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 ie 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 vs IRC2 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 vs The King3 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 Tea4 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 STC 99 at 102
2 at 248
3 4 1824 9 Wheaton US 430 at 438
11 240SCI77 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
SR Appeals dismissed


Summary:
Section 61 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 section 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 ie 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
1150 F H 151 G H 152 A Ramavatar Badhaiprasad vs Assistant Sales Tax Officer Akola   Ms Motipur Zamindary Co Ltd vs State of Bihar   applied
Madhya Pradesh Pan Merchants  Association Santra Mar ket Nagpur vs State of Madhya Pradesh 7 ST Cases 99 at 102 referred to
Grenfell vs IRC at 248 Planters Nut and Chocolate Co Ltd vs The King  200 Chests of Tea 1824 9 Wheaton US 430 at 438 quoted with approval