Common parlance test for tax exemptions excludes red ripe chillies from the meaning of vegetables.

An undefined commodity term in a sales tax exemption notification must be interpreted in its ordinary and popular sense, not in a technical or botanical sense. Applying the common parlance test, the Madras HC held that "vegetables" means edible produce ordinarily grown for table use and commonly sold as vegetables. Red ripe or fruit chillies were not ordinarily treated as table vegetables, and the exemption history did not show any intent to include them. The claim for exemption from purchase tax therefore fails.

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Issues: Whether red ripe or fruit chillies purchased by the assessees were "vegetables" within the meaning of the exemption notification issued under the sales tax statute, so as to entitle them to exemption from purchase tax.

Analysis: The expression "vegetables" was not defined in the Act or the Rules and had therefore to be construed in its ordinary and popular sense, not in a technical or botanical sense. Applying the common parlance test, the Court held that the word denotes edible vegetable matter ordinarily grown for table use and commonly sold as vegetables. Red ripe or fruit chillies are not ordinarily used for the table, are not treated by housewives or vegetable vendors as vegetables, and were never understood in the history of the exemption notifications as a separate class of exempt vegetables. The earlier notifications had specifically dealt with green chillies separately, showing that chillies of that kind were treated differently from vegetables, and the later notification did not extend the exemption to red ripe or fruit chillies.

Conclusion: Red ripe or fruit chillies are not "vegetables" within the exemption notification, and the claim for exemption fails.

Ratio Decidendi: In taxing statutes, an undefined commodity word used in an exemption notification must be construed according to its common parlance meaning, and a commodity not ordinarily regarded as edible table vegetables cannot be brought within the exemption merely because it is botanically related to vegetables.

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