Commercial meaning of "hardware" excludes tin trays and tin calendars; goods taxable as unclassified items instead.

Tin trays and tin calendars were not "hardware" within item No. 7 of the 5 April 1961 notification because the entry had to be construed in its commercial sense, not its widest dictionary meaning. The classification scheme showed hardware was confined to ordinary small base-metal goods such as building materials and allied articles, while machinery and spare parts were separately dealt with; items made of iron or other base metals were therefore not automatically hardware. As the goods did not answer the commercial description of hardware, they were taxable as unclassified items at the general rate under section 3 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act.

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Issues: Whether tin trays and tin calendars manufactured and sold by the assessee fell within item No. 7 of the notification dated 5th April, 1961, as "hardware" taxable at 3 per cent, or were unclassified items taxable at the general rate of 2 per cent under section 3 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: The entry in the notification had to be understood in its commercial sense and not by the widest dictionary meaning. The relevant classification showed that "hardware" covered ordinarily small items of base metals such as building materials and allied goods, while the notification separately dealt with machinery and spare parts, indicating that every article made of iron or other base metals was not intended to be treated as hardware. Tin trays and tin calendars did not answer the commercial description of hardware.

Conclusion: Tin trays and tin calendars were not hardware within item No. 7 of the notification and were taxable as unclassified items at 2 per cent under section 3 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act.

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