Commercial classification controls sales tax entries: remade gold is bullion, while G.I. pipes are not sanitary fittings.

Classification entries under a sales tax statute are construed in their popular and commercial sense. Old gold ornaments melted and remade into fresh ornaments were treated as gold in commercial parlance and therefore fell within the bullion entry; the revenue's wider reading failed. G.I. pipes were not covered by the expression "water supply and sanitary fittings" because sanitary fittings refer to sanitary appliances and accessories fixed to a building, and pipes merely connected with water supply do not answer that description. Both classifications were resolved in favour of the assessee, and the tax revision was dismissed.

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Issues: (i) Whether old gold ornaments melted and remade into fresh ornaments retained the character of bullion for assessment under entry 56 of Schedule I of the General Sales Tax Act, 1963; (ii) Whether G.I. pipes fell within the expression "water supply and sanitary fittings" under entry 26A of Schedule I of the General Sales Tax Act, 1963.

Issue (i): Whether old gold ornaments melted and remade into fresh ornaments retained the character of bullion for assessment under entry 56 of Schedule I of the General Sales Tax Act, 1963.

Analysis: The relevant expression was applied in its dictionary and commercial sense. Gold purchased in the form of ornaments or other articles, when melted and remade into fresh ornaments or articles of gold, continued to remain gold in commercial parlance. On that footing, the article sold satisfied the concept of bullion under the entry.

Conclusion: The item was rightly assessable under entry 56 as bullion, and the revenue's contention failed.

Issue (ii): Whether G.I. pipes fell within the expression "water supply and sanitary fittings" under entry 26A of Schedule I of the General Sales Tax Act, 1963.

Analysis: The expression was construed in its popular and commercial sense. Sanitary fittings were understood as sanitary appliances and accessories fixed to the floor or walls of a building, and the record did not show that G.I. pipes answered that description. The court declined to divorce the term "water supply" from the context of sanitary fittings and held that items merely connected with water supply could not be brought within the entry.

Conclusion: G.I. pipes did not fall within entry 26A, and the assessee was not liable to the higher rate under that entry.

Final Conclusion: Both disputed classifications were resolved in favour of the assessee, so the tax revision was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Classification entries in a sales tax statute must be construed in their popular and commercial sense, and an item falls within a specific entry only if it clearly answers the commercial description used in that entry.

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