Commercial meaning of milk controls tax exemption for milk khaja; prepared mix is not treated as milk.

Bottles of milk khaja prepared from milk, sugar, flavour and ground cashew-nuts were held not to answer the commercial description of "milk" in item No. 17 of Schedule B to the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948. The decisive test was whether the article retained its identity as milk in the commercial sense, not whether it could be treated as milk by an artificial or technical meaning. Because the product contained added ingredients, including visible ground cashew-nuts, it was treated as a distinct prepared commodity rather than milk alone and therefore did not qualify for exemption from tax.

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Issues: Whether bottles of milk khaja, prepared from milk, sugar, flavour and ground cashew-nuts, answer the description of "milk" in item No. 17 of Schedule B to the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 and are therefore exempt from tax.

Analysis: The product was not to be judged by a purely artificial or technical meaning of "milk". The decisive inquiry was whether, in the facts and circumstances, the article sold retained its identity as milk in the commercial sense. The mixture contained added ingredients, including ground cashew-nuts, which remained visible in the final product. On the facts, the article was a distinct prepared commodity and not milk alone. The earlier view on milk shake was distinguishable because the added ingredients there did not alter the character of milk in the same manner.

Conclusion: The product did not fall within the description of "milk" in item No. 17 of Schedule B and was not exempt from tax.

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