Popular and commercial meaning governs exemption for refrigerated food items; storage rent is outside sales tax.

Alternative remedy did not bar writ jurisdiction where the appellate authority had already taken a definite view and the assessment orders disclosed apparent errors of law, so the writ petition was maintainable. Rent collected for storing meat and fish in cold storage was only storage rent, not consideration for sale, and was outside sales tax. Fish kept under refrigeration continued to fall within the exemption for fresh fish because exemption terms were read in their popular and commercial sense. Meat preserved by refrigeration was treated as frozen meat and therefore did not qualify for exemption. The assessment was unsustainable for fish turnover and storage rent, but meat turnover required reassessment under this interpretation.

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Issues: (i) whether the writ petition was maintainable despite the statutory remedy, (ii) whether rent collected for keeping meat and fish in cold storage was exigible to sales tax, (iii) whether fish preserved by refrigeration continued to fall within the exemption for fresh fish, and (iv) whether meat preserved by refrigeration fell within the exemption for frozen meat.

Issue (i): whether the writ petition was maintainable despite the statutory remedy

Analysis: The availability of an alternative remedy did not bar writ jurisdiction where the appellate authority had already taken a definite view on the main questions and where the assessment orders were attacked as involving errors of law apparent on the face of the record. In those circumstances, the statutory remedy was not treated as an equally efficacious remedy.

Conclusion: The writ petition was maintainable.

Issue (ii): whether rent collected for keeping meat and fish in cold storage was exigible to sales tax

Analysis: The amount collected for keeping goods in the cooler was merely rent for storage. No element of sale was involved in that receipt, and sales tax could not be imposed on a transaction that was not a sale or purchase.

Conclusion: The rental receipt was not liable to sales tax.

Issue (iii): whether fish preserved by refrigeration continued to fall within the exemption for fresh fish

Analysis: The expression "fresh fish" was construed in its popular and commercial sense, not in a technical or scientific sense. Fish does not cease to be fresh merely because it is preserved in cold storage to maintain freshness. The proper test was ordinary commercial understanding, under which fish kept fresh by refrigeration remained fresh fish.

Conclusion: Fish preserved by refrigeration remained exempt as fresh fish.

Issue (iv): whether meat preserved by refrigeration fell within the exemption for frozen meat

Analysis: The word "frozen" was understood in ordinary parlance to include meat preserved by refrigeration. The exemption applied not to fresh meat generally, but to meat which was not cured or frozen. Meat kept in cold storage at low temperature for preservation was treated as frozen meat for the purpose of the notification.

Conclusion: Meat preserved by refrigeration fell within the expression frozen meat and was not exempt.

Final Conclusion: The assessment could not stand in respect of fish turnover and storage rent, but the turnover relating to meat was liable to be reassessed in accordance with the above interpretation.

Ratio Decidendi: Exemption notifications under a sales tax law must be construed in their popular and commercial sense, and a commodity preserved by refrigeration may still answer its ordinary commercial description for exemption purposes, while receipts lacking any element of sale are outside sales tax.

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