Cooked food exemption for ice-cream sold at depots read broadly to cover prepared refreshments, not just full meals.

In construing the exemption entry for "cooked food" under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, the expression was read in its ordinary and contextual sense as food fit to be eaten, not as a term confined to a regular meal. Ice-cream, prepared from milk and other ingredients through a process involving substantial heat before freezing, was treated as falling within that meaning. The entry was also read as not limiting exemption to food consumed only at fixed meal hours. On the factual basis that the ice-cream was sold for consumption at the depots, the depots answered the description of eating houses for purposes of the exemption.

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Issues: Whether sales of ice-cream at the respondents' depots were covered by entry No. 14 of Schedule A to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 as cooked food served at the relevant premises and therefore exempt from tax.

Analysis: The expression "food" in the exemption entry was construed in its ordinary and general sense as what can be eaten, and not as being confined to a substantive meal. Ice-cream, being manufactured from milk and other ingredients and involving substantial application of heat in the preparation process before freezing, was held to fall within "cooked food". The entry was also read as not limiting the exemption to food eaten only at fixed meal hours or as a regular meal, since the statutory language did not equate cooked food with a meal. On the factual finding that ice-cream was sold for consumption at the depots, those depots answered the description of eating houses even on the narrower construction pressed for the revenue.

Conclusion: The sales of ice-cream effected by the respondents at their depots were covered by entry No. 14 of Schedule A and were exempt from tax.

Ratio Decidendi: In construing a sales tax exemption entry, "cooked food" is to be understood in its ordinary and contextual sense and may include articles prepared by a process involving heat even if the finished product is consumed as a snack or refreshment rather than as a regular meal.

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