Common parlance test for commodity classification: garment labels were held outside the taxable entry for laces.

Labels sold for stitching to garments were analysed under a taxing notification that covered "laces". Applying the ordinary and common parlance meaning of the term, the HC held that the tape-like labels bearing the firm's name did not answer the description of lace. The revising authority's broader classification was therefore unsustainable, and the labels fell outside the notified taxable entry.

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Issues: Whether labels sold by the assessee were taxable as laces under Notification No. ST-3612/X-900(21)69 dated 1st July, 1969.

Analysis: The labels were found to be tape-like articles bearing the firm's name and used for stitching to garments. The expression "lace" was construed in its ordinary and common parlance meaning. On that approach, the commodity sold by the assessee did not answer the description of lace, and the classification adopted by the revising authority could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The labels were not taxable as laces under the notification, and the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The revision was allowed and the commodity was held outside the notified taxable entry.

Ratio Decidendi: For commodity classification under a taxing notification, the expression used must be understood in its common parlance sense, and a product that does not answer that ordinary meaning cannot be brought within the entry by broad description.

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