Ejusdem generis limits sales tax classification; amended food-and-drink proviso remained discriminatory under Article 14.

The amended proviso to the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939, was challenged as discriminatory because it extended the higher tax rate on articles of food and drink sold in a hotel, boarding house, restaurant, stall or other place. Applying ejusdem generis, the Court held that the added words "stall or any other place" could not create an unlimited class and were confined to places of the same kind as the specified establishments where prepared food and drink are sold for immediate consumption. The exemption notifications did not cure the inequality or alter that construction. The proviso therefore continued to offend Article 14 and was unconstitutional.

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Issues: Whether the amended proviso to the charging provision of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939, which extended the higher rate of tax to articles of food and drink sold in a hotel, boarding house, restaurant, stall or any other place, removed the earlier vice of discrimination and was valid under Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: The amended language was examined in the light of the earlier decisions striking down the proviso and construing the expressions "hotel, boarding house or restaurant" as a distinct class of places where prepared food and drink are sold for immediate consumption. The addition of the words "stall or any other place" was held not to create an unlimited or wholly general category. Applying the ejusdem generis principle, the general words were confined to places of the same kind as the specific expressions, and the legislative attempt was found not to have effectively extended the higher levy to all places where food or drink is sold. The Court also held that exemption notifications issued under the Act did not alter the true construction of the proviso or cure the inequality inherent in the classification.

Conclusion: The amended proviso continued to offend Article 14 of the Constitution of India and was unconstitutional; the petition was allowed.

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