Popular trade meaning controls handloom exemption; woven borders are not handloom cloth and remain taxable.

Fiscal exemption under entry 29 of Schedule A to the Bombay Sales Tax Act was held to cover only items ordinarily understood as "handloom cloth" in popular and commercial parlance. The expression "of all varieties" was read as enlarging the kinds of handloom cloth included, not as converting the entry into one for all handloom fabrics. Applying common trade understanding, handloom borders woven from silk, art silk and jari thread were treated as a distinct commodity and not as cloth. They therefore fell outside entry 29 and were not exempt from tax.

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Issues: Whether handloom borders woven on handlooms out of silk, art silk and jari thread are "handloom cloth" within entry 29 of Schedule A to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 and therefore exempt from tax.

Analysis: The exemption in section 5 operates notwithstanding the taxing entries, but entry 29 uses the expression "handloom cloth", which must be understood in its popular and ordinary parlance rather than in its broad technical sense as any woven fabric. The words "of all varieties" enlarge only the kinds of handloom cloth covered by the entry and do not convert the expression into "handloom fabrics". Applying the test of common commercial understanding, borders are a distinct commodity and are not ordinarily described as cloth. They are therefore outside the scope of entry 29, even though they may be woven on handloom and may be used as an adjunct to sarees.

Conclusion: Handloom borders are not handloom cloth within entry 29 of Schedule A and are not exempt from tax.

Ratio Decidendi: A fiscal entry must be construed in its popular and commercial sense, and a commodity is covered only if it is ordinarily understood as falling within the language used in the exemption entry.

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