Trade parlance controls classification: spoon is not cutlery and falls outside the taxing entry.

Where a taxing entry uses an undefined commercial term, the expression must be construed in its ordinary trade parlance rather than by an expansive functional meaning. The court held that "cutlery" in the relevant notification referred in trade usage to knives and cutting implements, while table forks and spoons formed a different commercial category. On that basis, a spoon was not included in cutlery and did not fall within the entry covering crockery, cutlery, China and porcelain ware; the revenue's classification was upheld.

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Issues: Whether spoon is included in cutlery and falls within entry No. 5 of Notification No. ST-3391/X-1012/1962 dated 1st July, 1962.

Analysis: The entry covered "crockery, cutlery, China and porcelain ware" and the term "cutlery" was not defined in the notification or the Act. The expression had to be understood in its ordinary commercial sense. The materials before the Court showed that cutlery in trade parlance referred to knives and cutting implements, with table forks and spoons forming a different trade. Since the notification itself also mentioned articles not ordinarily used at the dining table, the wider construction suggested by the assessee could not be accepted.

Conclusion: Spoon is not included in cutlery and does not fall within entry No. 5 of Notification No. ST-3391/X-1012/1962 dated 1st July, 1962, and the classification made by the revenue was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing entry uses a commercial term without definition, the term must be construed in its trade parlance and not by an expansive functional description; articles not recognised in the relevant trade are outside the entry.

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