Common parlance meaning of "fertilizer" governed exemption, while bone-meal remained taxable under the later sales tax enactment.

Bone-meal and crushed bone were treated differently under the two sales tax enactments. For the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, the commodity fell within the taxable entry and was not exempt under the claimed schedule entry. Under the Central Provinces and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947, the term "fertilizer" was construed in its ordinary popular sense; on that basis, bone-meal and crushed bone were held to be fertilizers and therefore exempt. The Court also held that chemical analysis to test conformity with the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1957 was unnecessary for sales tax assessment, because the relevant inquiry was common parlance classification, not technical standards.

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Issues: (i) Whether bone-meal or crushed bone was taxable under entry No. 11 of Part III of Schedule II of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, read with entry No. 2 of Schedule III of that Act, or exempt under entry No. 22 of Schedule I; (ii) whether bone-meal and crushed bone were exempt as fertilizers under entry No. 25 of Schedule II of the Central Provinces and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947; (iii) whether analysis of the product was necessary to determine conformity with the standards in the Schedule to the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1957.

Issue (i): Whether bone-meal or crushed bone was taxable under entry No. 11 of Part III of Schedule II of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, read with entry No. 2 of Schedule III of that Act, or exempt under entry No. 22 of Schedule I.

Analysis: For the period governed by the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, the article fell within the taxable entry applied by the Court. The earlier reference involving the same commodity had already treated bone-meal and crushed bone as taxable under the relevant entries of the 1958 Act.

Conclusion: The article was taxable under entry No. 11 of Part III of Schedule II of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, read with entry No. 2 of Schedule III of that Act.

Issue (ii): Whether bone-meal and crushed bone were exempt as fertilizers under entry No. 25 of Schedule II of the Central Provinces and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947.

Analysis: The term "fertilizer" in a taxing statute was held to bear its ordinary and popular meaning, not a technical or scientific meaning. On that understanding, crushed bone and bone-meal, being materials which improve soil productivity, were fertilizers for the purpose of the 1947 Act, and the exemption was not qualified by any further statutory restriction.

Conclusion: Bone-meal and crushed bone were exempt from sales tax under entry No. 25 of Schedule II of the Central Provinces and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947.

Issue (iii): Whether analysis of the product was necessary to determine conformity with the standards in the Schedule to the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1957.

Analysis: The Court treated the suggested chemical or analytical inquiry as unnecessary for sales-tax assessment. The relevant question was whether the commodity answered the description of fertilizer in common parlance, and not whether it satisfied the standards in the Fertilizer Control Order.

Conclusion: No analysis was necessary for sales-tax assessment purposes, and the question was irrelevant.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered by holding the commodity taxable for the period governed by the 1958 Act, exempt for the period governed by the 1947 Act, and by rejecting the need for analytical testing under the Fertilizer Control Order for the assessment question.

Ratio Decidendi: Words describing taxable goods in exemption provisions are construed in their ordinary popular sense, and where a commodity is commonly understood as a fertilizer, it falls within that description for exemption purposes without resort to technical or analytical tests.

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