Common parlance test excludes ice-cream and ice-candy from cooked food under sales tax classification.

In construing sales tax entries, the governing test is the common parlance or popular meaning of the commodity, not its scientific composition or manufacturing process. Applying that test, ice-cream and ice-candy are widely consumed articles but are not ordinarily understood by merchants or consumers as cooked food. A later amendment excluding them from the definition was treated as clarificatory, intended to remove doubt and declare legislative intent rather than to show earlier inclusion. Accordingly, ice-cream and ice-candy do not fall within item 8 of Part I of Schedule II to the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958.

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Issues: Whether ice-cream and ice-candy are "cooked food" within item 8 of Part I of Schedule II to the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958.

Analysis: In construing entries in sales tax legislation, the controlling test is the meaning of the commodity in common parlance or popular sense, not its scientific or technical composition or the process by which it is manufactured. On that test, ice-cream and ice-candy are widely consumed articles, but they are not ordinarily understood by merchants or consumers as cooked food. The later amendment expressly excluding them from the definition of cooked food did not show that they were earlier included; it was treated as a clarificatory amendment made to remove doubt created by an earlier decision and to declare the legislative intent.

Conclusion: Ice-cream and ice-candy are not cooked food and do not fall within item 8 of Part I of Schedule II to the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958.

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