Interpretation of "foodgrains including cereals" allowed malted barley to fall within the sales tax notifications.

Malted barley was held to fall within the expression "foodgrains including cereals" in the three U.P. Sales Tax notifications, even though it was not a cereal under section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act. The notifications were treated as wider charging provisions than the Central Act definition, and the prior remand left that separate question open. On the material considered, "grain" was not confined to ungerminated seed, and malt was understood in its ordinary and commercial sense as a foodgrain. The Revenue, bearing the burden to show exclusion, failed to do so, and the concurrent findings below were not shown to be perverse.

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Issues: Whether malted barley falls within the expression "foodgrains including cereals" in the three notifications issued under the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, notwithstanding that it is not a cereal within section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.

Analysis: The notifications were charging provisions fixing tax rates for foodgrains including cereals, and their scope was wider than the definition of cereals contained in section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. The remand order had confined the earlier finding to section 14 and left open the distinct question under the notifications. On the material considered, the word "grain" was not restricted to ungerminated seed, and malt was treated in the relevant commercial and ordinary sense as a foodgrain. The Revenue, on whom the burden lay to show that malted barley was outside the notifications, failed to discharge that burden. The concurrent findings of the Tribunal and the High Court were not shown to be perverse.

Conclusion: Malted barley was covered by the expression "foodgrains including cereals" in the three notifications, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

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