Sealed container test under sales tax law: heat-sealed polythene bags containing chikki were treated as sealed containers.

A heat-sealed polythene bag can qualify as a sealed container if the contents cannot be accessed without breaking the fastening or part of the covering. The mode of opening the package, including use of fingers rather than an instrument, is irrelevant. Applying that test, chikki packed in heat-sealed polythene bags fell within entry 6 of Schedule E to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, and was not outside the sealed-container provision. The earlier tribunal view was rejected for applying an incorrect meaning of sealed container.

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Issues: Whether chikki sold in heat-sealed polythene bags was sold in sealed containers within entry 6 of Schedule E to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959.

Analysis: The decisive test for a sealed container is whether access to the contents can be obtained without breaking the fastening or some part of the cover. A polythene bag can be a container, and the mode of opening it by fingers rather than by knife or other instrument is not material. Since the contents of the bags could not be reached without removing or breaking part of the polythene covering, the bags were held to be sealed containers. The earlier Tribunal view was rejected as turning on an incorrect approach to the meaning of sealed container.

Conclusion: The chikki packed in heat-sealed polythene bags was covered by entry 6 of Schedule E and was not outside the sealed-container provision.

Ratio Decidendi: A package is a sealed container if its contents cannot be accessed without breaking the fastening or some part of the covering, and the means of opening it is irrelevant.

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