Common parlance test excludes pea-gravels from stone entry, removing sales tax liability under the disputed schedule.

Pea-gravels used as tube-well packing material were held not to fall within item 29 of the Tripura Sales Tax Act Schedule as stone, stone chips, or a product or sub-product of stone. The entry had to be interpreted in common, trade, or commercial parlance, and the assessing authority's nomenclature was not conclusive. Because pea-gravels are not ordinarily understood as stone or stone chips and are used for filtration and percolation in tube-wells rather than building or road construction, they were outside the taxable entry. The assessment under item 29 was therefore liable to be quashed in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether pea-gravels supplied for use as tube-well packing material fall within item 29 of the Schedule of taxable goods attached to the Tripura Sales Tax Act, 1976 as stone, stone chips, or products or sub-products arising out of bricks or stones.

Analysis: Under the Act, tax is levied only on turnover from sale of taxable goods as specified in the Schedule. In construing a fiscal entry, words of everyday use are to be understood in their common, trade, or commercial parlance and not in their scientific or technical sense. The nomenclature used by the assessing authority is not conclusive. The entry in question covers bricks, brick-bats, jhama, metals, stone chips, other products or sub-products arising out of bricks or stones, and kiln-burnt tiles, all of which are ordinarily associated with building or road construction. The evidence showed that pea-gravels are not commonly known as stone or stone chips, are not used for building or road construction, and are used instead for filtration and percolation of water in tube-wells. On that basis, pea-gravels could not be classified as stone or a sub-product of stone under item 29.

Conclusion: Pea-gravels do not fall within item 29 of the Schedule and are not taxable under that entry; the assessment was liable to be quashed in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A fiscal entry must be construed in its popular or commercial sense, and goods are taxable only if they are ordinarily understood as falling within the chosen entry; technical identity alone is insufficient where common parlance points otherwise.

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