Contextual reading of taxing entry limits "metal wares" to utensils and similar articles, excluding reinforced concrete pipes.

A taxing entry for "wares made of any metal or alloy" was construed contextually by reading the English and Hindi versions together. The court treated "ware" as referring to utensils and similar articles commonly understood as wares, not to every object containing metal. Reinforced cement concrete pipes, though strengthened with steel wires and rods, were made principally of cement, sand and stone grits and could not be treated as utensils or similar wares. Mere metal content was therefore insufficient to attract the concessional sales tax entry, and the assessment on that basis could not stand.

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Issues: Whether reinforced cement concrete pipes manufactured by the petitioner were liable to sales tax at 3 per cent as "wares made of any metal or alloy other than brass and aluminium" under the notification dated 21 May 1963.

Analysis: The English and Hindi versions of the notification were read together. On that reading, the word "ware" was understood in the sense of articles commonly used as utensils. The entry was therefore confined to utensils and similar wares, and not to every article containing metal. The pipes manufactured by the petitioner were made of cement, sand and stone grits reinforced with steel wires and rods, and could not by any stretch of imagination be treated as utensils. The revisional view that substantial metal content alone brought the pipes within the entry was rejected.

Conclusion: The pipes were not taxable at 3 per cent under the notification and the assessment could not be sustained on that basis.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was allowed, the revisional order was quashed, and the appellate order in favour of the petitioner was restored.

Ratio Decidendi: A taxing entry using the expression "wares made of any metal or alloy" must be construed in the context of the notification as a whole, and articles not answerable to the sense of utensils or similar wares do not fall within it merely because they contain metal.

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