Civil Appeal No 151 of 1981
Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 1681969 of the Addl
Judge Revisions Sales Tax Saharanpur in Revision Appln
No 168878
J Ramamurthi and Miss R Vaigai for the Appellant
section C Manchanda
B P Maheshwari and Suresh Sethi for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by TULZAPURKAR J
This appeal by special leave raises the question whether hypodermic clinical syringes could be regarded as glass ware under Entry No 39 of the First Schedule to UP Sales Tax Act 1948  The facts giving rise to the question lie in a narrow compass
The appellant firm hereinafter called the assessee manufactures and sells hypodermic clinical syringes
For the assessment year 1973 74 the assessee filed a return disclosing net UP sales of such syringes at Rs 95065
The disclosed turnover was accepted by the 296 Sales Tax Officer Sector III Muzaffarnagar but as regards the rate of tax the assessee contended that the clinical syringes in respect of their turnover of Rs91513 up to November 30 1973 should be regarded as an unclassified item and taxed at the rate of 3 12 or at 4 as hospital equipment and apparatus under Entry 44 of the First Schedule to the Act and on the turnover of Rs 3552 for the period from December 1 1973 to March 31 1974 at the rate of 7 as an unclassified item
The Sales Tax Officer however treated the syringes as glass ware and taxed the entire turnover of Rs95065 at the rate of 10 under Entry No 39 of the First Schedule
The said assessment was upheld in appeal by the Assistant Commissioner Judicial Sales Tax Muzaffarnagar and also in revision by the Additional Judge Revision Sales Tax Saharanpur on August 16 1979
It is this view taken by the assessing authorities as well as by the Additional Judge in revision that is being challenged by the assessee before us in this appeal
It may be stated that up to November 30 1973 there were two competing entries in the First Schedule to the UP Sales Tax Act so far as the item in question is concerned namely Entry 39 which ran Glass wares other than hurricane lantern chimneys optical lenses and bottles and Entry 44 which ran Hospital equipment and apparatus and for an item falling under the former the rate of tax was 10 while under the latter the rate of tax was 4 and for an unclassified item the rate was 3 12
From December 1 1973 onwards Entry 44 was deleted and therefore if the clinical syringes did not fall within Entry 39 it became an unclassified item under section 3A 2A of the Act and the rate of tax was 7
In view of this position that obtained for the relevant periods during the assessment year 1973 74 the assessee had claimed before the assessing authorities that its turnover in respect of syringes for the period up to November 30 1973 was liable to tax at 3 12 as an unclassified item or in the alternative at 4 as hospital equipment under Entry 44 and its turnover for the period from December 1 1973 to March 31 1974 was liable to be taxed at 7 as an unclassified item
But negativing its contentions the entire turnover was held to be taxable at the rate of 10 on the basis that clinical syringes fell within the expression glass ware occurring in Entry 39
Counsel for the assessee contended before us that in the absence of any definition of glass ware in the Act that expression must be understood in the ordinary commercial parlance and not in any scientific and technical sense and if such test were applied to the instant case then clinical syringes manufactured and sold by the 297 assessee could never be regarded as glass ware
Counsel pointed out that the Revising Authority negatived the contention of the assessee in view of a decision of the Allahabad High Court in the case of Commissioner of Sales Tax vs section section R Syringes and Thermometers but urged that the contrary view taken by the Orissa High Court in the case of State of Orissa vs Janta Medical Stores that thermometers lactometers syringes eye glasses etc
do not come within the meaning of the expression glass ware in Entry No 38 in the Schedule to the relevant Notification issued under the first proviso to section 51 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act 1947 was correct
In our view counsel s contention has considerable force and deserves acceptance
It is well settled that in interpreting items in statutes like the Excise Tax Acts or Sales Tax Acts whose primary object is to raise revenue and for which purpose they classify diverse products articles and substances resort should be had not to the scientific and technical meaning of the terms or expressions used but to their popular meaning that is to say the meaning attached to them by those dealing in them
If any term or expression has been defined in the enactment then it must be understood in the sense in which it is defined but in the absence of any definition being given in the enactment the meaning of the term in common parlance or commercial parlance has to be adopted
In Ramavatar Budhiaprasad etc
vs Assistant Sales Tax Officer Akola the question was whether betel leaves  fell within item vegetable  so as to earn exemption from sales tax and this Court held that word vegetable  had not been defined in the Act and that the same must be construed not in any technical sense nor from the botanical point of view but as understood in common parlance and so construed it denoted those classes of vegetable matter which are grown in kitchen garden and are used for the table and did not comprise betel leaves within it and therefore betel leaves were not exempt from taxation In Commissioner of Sales Tax Madhya Pradesh vs Jaswant Singh Charan Singh the question was whether the item coal  under Entry 1 of Part III of Second Schedule to Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act 1958 included charcoal or not and this Court observed thus Now there can be no dispute that while coal is technically understood as a mineral product charcoal is manu 298 factured by human agency from products like wood and other things
But it is now well settled that while interpreting items in statutes like the Sales Tax Acts 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
 Viewing the question from the above angle this Court further observed that both a merchant dealing in coal and a consumer wanting to purchase it would regard coal not in its geological sense but in the sense as ordinarily understood and would include charcoal  in the term coal and held that charcoal  fell within the concerned Entry No 1 of Part III of Schedule II of the Act
Having regard to the aforesaid well settled test the question is whether clinical syringes could be regarded as glass ware falling within Entry 39 of the First Schedule to the Act  It is true that the dictionary meaning of the expression glass ware is articles made of glass See Websters New World Dictionary
However in commercial sense glass ware would never comprise articles like clinical syringes thermometers lactometers and the like which have specialised significance and utility
In popular or commercial parlance a general merchant dealing in glass ware does not ordinarily deal in articles like clinical syringes thermometers lactometers etc
which articles though made of glass are normally available in medical stores or with the manufacturers thereof like the assessee
It is equally unlikely that consumer would ask for such articles from a glass ware shop
In popular sense when one talks of glass ware such specialised articles like clinical syringes thermometers lactometers and the like do not come up to one s mind
Applying the aforesaid test therefore we are clearly of the view that the clinical syringes which the assessee manufactures and sells cannot be considered as glass ware falling within Entry 39 of the First Schedule of the Act
In our opinion the view taken by the Orissa High Court in State of Orissa vs Janta Medical Stores supra is correct and the view of the Allahabad High Court in Commissioner of Sales Tax vs Ms SSR Syringes and Thermometers supra is unsustainable
In this view of the matter it is clear that the assessee s turnover up to November 30 1973 will fall under Entry 44 dealing with 299 hospital equipment and the same would be taxable at the rate of 4 and its turnover from December 1 1973 to March 31 1974 will be taxable at the rate 7 as an unclassified item and the assessment will have to be made accordingly
In the result the appeal is allowed but there will be no order as to costs
section R Appeal allowed


Summary:
Upto November 30 1973 there were two competing entries in the First Schedule to the U P Sales Tax Act 1948 so far as the item hypodermic clinical syringes is concerned namely Entry 39 which ran Glass wares other than hurricane lantern chimneys optical lenses and bottles and Entry 44 which ran Hospital equipment and apparatus and for an item falling under the former the rate of tax was 10 while under the latter the rate of tax was 4 and for an unclassified item the rate was 3 12 From December 1 1973 onwards Entry 44 was deleted and therefore if the clinical syringes did not fall within entry 39 it became an unclassified item under section 3A2A of the UP Sales Tax Act 1948 and the rate of tax was 7
In view of this position that obtained for the relevant periods during the assessment year 1973 74 the appellant assessee had claimed before the assessing authorities that its turnover in respect of syringes for the period up to November 30 1973 was liable to tax at 3 12 as an unclassified item or in the alternative at 4 as hospital equipment under Entry 44 and its turnover for the period from December 1 1973 to March 31 1974 was liable to be taxed at 7 as an unclassified item
But negativing its contentions the entire turnover was held to be taxable at the rate of 10 on the basis that clinical syringes fell within the expression glass ware occurring in Entry 39 and hence the appeal by special leave on the question whether hypodermic clinical syringes could be regarded as glass ware
Allowing the appeal the Court  HELD 1
The assessee s turnover up to November 30 1973 will fall under Entry 44 dealing with hospital equipment and the same would be taxable at the rate of 4 and its turnover from December 1 1974 will be taxable at the rate of 7 as an unclassified item
298 H 2 1
It is well settled that in interpreting items in statutes like the Excise Tax Acts or Sales Tax Acts whose primary object is to raise revenue and for which purpose they classify diverse products articles and substances resort should be had not to the scientific and technical meaning of the terms or expressions used but to their popular meaning that is to say the meaning attached to them by those dealing in them
If any term or expression has been defined in the enactment then it must be understood in the sense in which it is defined 295 but in the absence of any definition being given in the enactment the meaning of the term in common parlance or commercial parlance has to be adopted
297 C D Ramavatar Budhiaprasad etc
vs Assistant Sales Tax Officer Akola and Commissioner of Sales Tax Madhya Pradesh vs Jaswant Singh Charan Singh   followed
2  2
The clinical syringes which the assessee manufactures and sells cannot be considered as glass ware falling within Entry 39 of the First Schedule of the Act
a In commercial sense glass ware would never comprise articles like clinical syringes thermometers lactometers and the like which have specialised significance and utility b in popular or commercial parlance a general merchant dealing in glass ware does not ordinarily deal in articles like clinical syringes thermometers etc
which articles though made of glass are normally available in medical stores or with the manufacturers thereof like the assessee c it is equally unlikely that consumer would ask for such articles from a glass ware shop
Further in popular sense when one talks of glass ware such specialised articles like clinical syringes do not come up to one s mind
298 E F State of Orissa vs Janta Medical Stores 37 STC 33 approved
Commissioner of Sales Tax vs SSR Syringes and Thermometers 1973 Law Diary 178 overruled