Civil Appeal No 1037 of 1971
From the Judgment and Order dated the 17th June 1971 of the Gujarat High Court in Special Civil Application No 11267
VP Raman Addl
and Girish Chandra for the appellants
GN Dikshit and RN Dikshit for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by GUPTA J
The respondent is a partnership firm manufac turing non woven felts from woollen fibres which are uti lised for the purpose of filtration in heavy industries
Between August 25 1965 and January 5
1967 the Excise authorities compelled the respondent to pay Rs 5505587 p as excise duty on its products
The respondent 473 filed a writ petition in the High Court of Gujarat at Ahme dabad for quashing the order levying excise duty on the felts manufactured by the respondent treating them as woo llen fabrics  covered by entry 21 in Schedule I to the hereinafter referred to as the Act
The High Court allowed the writ petition holding that the respondents products were not woollen fabrics  and directed refund of the sum of Rs 5505587 p collected as excise duty from the firm
The Union of India has preferred this appeal on certificate of fitness granted by the High Court questioning the correctness of the deci sion
The only question in the appeal is whether the felts manufactured by the respondent are woolien fabrics within the meaning of entry 21 in the first schedule to the Act
The writ petition describes the process of manufacture and states that the thickness of the felts produced varies from 1 mm
to 50 mms
according to
the specification of the customers and that these are really machine pressed raw woolwaste
It is stated further that the felts manufactured by the process described are neither sheets nor fabrics they are not material from which garments could be prepared nor they could be used as covering or for similar other purposes
Entry 21 in the first schedule to the Act reads 21
WOOLLEN FABRICS Woollen fabrics means all varieties of fabrics manufactured wholly of wool or which contain 40 per cent or more by weight of wool and includes blankets lohis rugs shawls and embroidery in the piece in strips or in motifs Provided that in the case of embroidery in the piece in strips or in motifs the percentage referred to above shall be in relation to the base fabrics which are embroi dered _ 1 Woollen fabrics other than Ten percent
embroidery in the piece in ad valorem
strips or in motifs
2 Embroidery in the piece in The duty for strips or in motifs in or in the time being relation to the manufacture leviable on the of which any process is ord base fabrics inarily carried on with the if not already aid of power
paid plus twenty percent
ad va orern Explanation  Base fabrics means fab rics falling  under sub item 1 of this Item which are subjected to the process of embroi dery
 0 Are the products of the respondent s factory woollen fabrics  Fabric means woven material
The articles manu factured by the respondent as already stated are non woven felts from woollen fibres
It is contended on behalf of the appellant Union of India 474 that in a technical sense the felts manufactured by the respondent would still be woollen fabrics
The well known rule in interpreting items in statutes like the one we are concerned with is that resort should be had not to the scientific or the technical meaning of such terms but to their popular meaning or the meaning attached to them by those dealing in them that is to say to their commercial sense
Commissioner of Sales Tax Madhya Pradesh Indore vs Ms Jaswant Singh Charan Singh1
The High Court has held that a trader dealing in woollen fabrics would not regard the respondent s products as woollen fabrics but it does not appear that there is any evidence on the record of the case to support the finding
However an inquiry re garding the meaning of the term woollen fabrics as commer cially understood would be relevant only when there is doubt as to the sense in which the term has been used in entry 21 it seems to us plain from the entry read as a whole that the respondent s products did not fail within it
Entries 19 to 22 in the schedule all deal with fabrics
Entry 19 deals with cotton fabrics which is stated to cover barring the exceptions specified all varieties of fabrics manufactured either wholly or partly from cotton and in cludes dhoties sarees chadders bed sheets bed spreads etc
Entry 20 relates to slik fabrics which is said to mean all varieties of fabrics manufactured
either wholly or partly from silk with certain exceptions and includes em broidery in the piece in strips or in motifs
Entry 22 relates to rayon or artificial silk fabrics which also is said to mean all varieties of fabrics manufactured either wholly or partly from rayon or artificial silk with some exceptions and includes embroidery in the piece in strips or in motifs etc
In this group entry 21 describes woollen fabrics as meaning all varieties of fabrics manufactured out of wool barring the exceptions mentioned including blankets lohis rugs shawls and embroidery in the piece in strips or in motifs
If the term woollen fabrics  in this entry had been used in its technical or scientific sense and if in that sense it was wide enough to cover non woven material which is wool based then it is diffi cult to explain why the entry should specifically mention blankets rugs and shawIs as being included within it
No one could possibly be in any doubt in respect of these few items if the term was so pervasive and there was no reason for singling out these specific objects
On the contrary the mention of these items suggests that the word fab rics  in entry 21 has been used to mean woven material in which sense it is popularly understood and blankets rugs and shawls etc
have been specifically included in the entry out of abundant caution to indicate that woollen fabrics  in entry 21 means not only woollen garments but also woollen material used as covering or for similar other purposes
We therefore find no reason to take a view different from that taken by the High Court
The appeal is dismissed with costs
SR Appeal dismissed


Summary:
An excise duty of Rs 5505587 was levied and collected from the respondent firm by the Excise authorities treating the non woven felts manufactured by them as woollen fab rics covered by entry 21 in Schedule I to the 
The Gujarat High Court allowed the writ petition filed by the respondent and held that the respondent s products were not woollen fabrics and direct ed the refund of the entire sum collected as excise duty
Dismissing the appeal by certificate to this Court HELD 1 The well known rule in interpreting items in statutes is that resort should be had not to the scientif ic or the technical meaning of such terms but to their popular meaning or the meaning attached to them by those dealing in them that is to say their commercial sense
474 A B Commissioner of Sales Tax Madhya Pradesh Indore vs Ms Jaswant Singh Charan Singh   applied
2 Fabric means woven material
Entries 19 to 22 in the Schedule deal with fabrics
Entry 21 describes woollen fabrics as meaning all varieties of fabrics manufactured out of wool barring the exceptions mentioned including blan kets lohis rugs shawls and embroidery in the piece in strips or in motifs
The word fabric in entry 21 has been used to mean woven material in which sense it is popularly understood
The term woollen fabrics in that sense was not wide enough to cover non woven material which is wool based
Blankets
rugs and shawls etc
have been specifical ly included in the entry out of abundant caution to indicate that woollen fabrics in entry 21 means not only woollen garments but also woollen material used as covering or for similar other purposes
473 H 474 F G 3 It is plain from entry 21 in Schedule 1 to the that the respondent s products did not fall within it as they are nonwoven felts from woollen fibres
474 C