Prawn not treated as fish for sales tax purposes; prior Bench ruling on commodity difference governs the references.

Prawn is not a category of fish for taxation under section 3-B of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947, because an earlier Bench decision on the same notification and item had already held that fish and prawn are qualitatively different commodities. The Court treated that prior ruling as governing the present references and rejected the Revenue's argument that it had no binding effect merely because res judicata does not strictly apply. The question was answered in the negative, in favour of the dealer and against the Revenue.

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Issues: Whether prawn is a category of fish and, therefore, taxable under section 3-B of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947.

Analysis: The question was already answered by an earlier Bench decision of the same Court on the same notification and the same item. The Court held that the prior decision governed the present references. It rejected the contention that the earlier ruling had no effect because res judicata does not strictly apply, noting that the earlier case had already determined that fish and prawn are qualitatively different commodities.

Conclusion: Prawn is not a category of fish for the purpose of taxation under section 3-B of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947, and the question is answered in the negative, in favour of the dealer and against the Revenue.

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