Composite meal sales in a thal fall within "meals" under the tax notification, not separate item-wise taxation.

A full meal served in a 'thal' was treated as a composite sale of "meals" under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act notification, because the term was used in its ordinary sense and covered one integrated food preparation rather than separate independent items. The individual constituents could not be split out for separate item-wise tax treatment once the sale was of the meal as a whole. The Tribunal's approach of directing separate taxation of the constituents was rejected, and the Revenue's revision succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the sale of a full meal served in a 'thal' by a hotel was covered by the notification taxing 'meals', and whether the individual constituents of that meal had to be taxed separately as exempt items.

Analysis: The notification issued under the second proviso to section 5 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 used the expression 'meals' in its ordinary and composite sense. A 'thal' containing a complete meal was held to fall within that expression because it was sold as one integrated food preparation and not as separate independent items retaining distinct identity. Once the sale was of a meal as a composite unit, the exemption or tax treatment applicable to individual constituents could not be applied item-wise for separate assessment.

Conclusion: The meal sold in a 'thal' was taxable as a meal under the notification, and the Tribunal was not justified in directing separate taxation of its constituents. The revision succeeded in favour of the Revenue.

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