Ordinary commercial meaning of "iron scrap" includes cast iron scrap under the sales tax schedule entry.

Cast iron scrap was held to fall within the unqualified expression "iron scrap" in entry 4(a) of the Second Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, as it stood before the 1973 amendment. The court treated iron as the genus and cast iron as a species, and read the entry in its ordinary commercial sense rather than by strained interpretation. It also rejected reliance on the later amendment expressly referring to cast iron scrap, stating that subsequent legislation cannot narrow the clear meaning of the earlier provision. Accordingly, cast iron scrap was covered by the schedule entry even before amendment.

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Issues: Whether cast iron scrap falls within the expression "iron scrap" in entry 4(a) of the Second Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, as it stood prior to the 1973 amendment.

Analysis: The expression "iron scrap" was held to be unqualified and broad enough to include cast iron scrap. Iron was treated as a genus and cast iron as a species, so cast iron scrap could not be excluded in the absence of words of exclusion. The later amendment expressly mentioning cast iron scrap was not accepted as an interpretive aid to narrow the earlier entry, since subsequent legislation cannot control the clear meaning of an existing provision. The entry in the Second Schedule was to be construed in its ordinary and commercial sense, rather than by strained or artificial interpretation.

Conclusion: Cast iron scrap is covered by "iron scrap" in entry 4(a) and was a Second Schedule item even before the amendment.

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