Common parlance controls commodity classification: pind-khajur is preserved fruit, not dry fruit, and falls in the residuary entry.

Undefined taxing commodity descriptions must be read in their common parlance and popular sense. On that approach, pind-khajur, being a pulpy date-palm fruit boiled with sugar to prevent decomposition, was treated as neither a fresh fruit nor a dry fruit in ordinary market usage. A later amendment expressly including pind-khajur in dried fruits showed that such coverage was not part of the earlier ordinary meaning and only expanded the statutory entry. The resulting classification placed sales of pind-khajur outside the fruit and dry fruit entries and within the residuary taxing entry.

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Issues: Whether pind-khajur is a preserved fruit or a dry fruit for the purpose of classification under the sales tax entries.

Analysis: The expression 'fruits' and 'dry fruits' was construed in their common parlance and popular sense, as the Act did not define those terms. Pind-khajur was described as the pulpy fruit of the date-palm subjected to boiling with sugar to prevent decomposition. On that understanding, it was neither a fresh fruit nor a dry fruit in the ordinary market sense. The later amendment, by expressly including pind-khajur within the entries for dried fruits, showed that such inclusion was not part of the ordinary meaning and only enlarged the statutory coverage.

Conclusion: Pind-khajur is a preserved fruit and not a dry fruit.

Final Conclusion: The sales of pind-khajur were not taxable under the fruit or dry fruit entries and fell under the residuary taxing entry.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing entry uses an undefined commodity description, the term must be interpreted in its common parlance sense, and a later inclusive amendment may indicate that the ordinary meaning did not previously cover the item.

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