Ordinary commercial meaning governs classification of a cooling plant as a refrigerator under a sales tax entry.

A cooling plant used in a mercerising process was treated as a refrigerator for purposes of item 69 of Schedule B to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953. The Bombay HC applied the ordinary commercial meaning of "refrigerator" and rejected a narrow domestic reading, noting that the entry contained no words limiting it to household use or food preservation. Because the plant cooled caustic soda to a low temperature through a chamber or tank, it fell within the statutory description, and the user's description of the plant's function did not control classification. The reference was answered in favour of taxability under that entry, with costs against the dealers.

---

---

Issues: Whether a cooling plant used in a mercerising process is covered by item 69 of Schedule B to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 as a refrigerator.

Analysis: The expression "refrigerator" was construed in its ordinary commercial sense, not in a narrow domestic sense. The provision contained no qualifying words restricting refrigerators to household articles or to apparatus used only for preserving food and drinks. The material before the Court showed that the plant cooled caustic soda to a low temperature by means of a chamber or tank, which brought it within the ordinary meaning of an apparatus for cooling or maintaining contents at a low temperature. The fact that the plant was used in mercerising did not exclude it from the statutory description, and the user's description of its own use could not control the scope of the entry.

Conclusion: The cooling plant was held to be a refrigerator within item 69 and therefore taxable under that entry.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered by holding that the plant fell within the taxing entry, with costs awarded against the dealers.

Ratio Decidendi: In construing a taxing entry, an article is to be classified according to its ordinary commercial meaning unless the statute itself narrows the entry by express qualifying words.

---