Meaning of "ware" under sales tax notification excludes G.I. and C.I. pipes, leaving them taxable as unclassified items.

The meaning of "ware" in the relevant notification was confined to articles commonly understood as utensils, and only goods answering that ordinary sense could fall within the metal-or-alloy entry. G.I. pipes and C.I. pipes are not utensils in common parlance, so they were excluded from that classification and treated as unclassified items for tax purposes. The answer was therefore in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether G.I. pipes and C.I. pipes were taxable as unclassified items at 2 per cent or fell within the entry for wares made of any metal or alloy.

Analysis: The decisive consideration was the meaning of the word "ware" in the relevant notification. The Court applied the earlier interpretation that the expression was used in the sense of wares commonly understood as utensils, and that only articles answerable to that common understanding could be brought within the entry. Since pipes are not utensils in ordinary parlance, they do not fall within the described class of goods.

Conclusion: G.I. pipes and C.I. pipes were not covered by the entry for wares made of any metal or alloy and were rightly taxable as unclassified items. The answer was therefore in favour of the assessee.

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