Sealed container test applied to mechanically sealed polythene bags, making wheat product sales taxable and denying exemption.

Wheat products such as atta, maida and sooji sold in one-kilogram polythene bags mechanically sealed were treated as sales in sealed containers under the Pondicherry General Sales Tax Act, 1967. The court applied the ordinary and contextual meaning of "sealed container," holding that a receptacle closed so that access to the contents is impossible without breaking the fastening falls within the term. Because the bags could not be opened without breaking the seal, the exemption for flour sold outside sealed containers did not apply. The sales were therefore taxable and the assessee was not entitled to exemption.

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Issues: Whether wheat products such as atta, maida and sooji sold in one kilogram polythene bags sealed by mechanical process were sales in sealed containers and therefore taxable under the Pondicherry General Sales Tax Act, 1967.

Analysis: The exemption under the Third Schedule applied only to flour including atta, maida, sooji and bran when not sold in sealed containers. The expression "sealed container" was construed in its ordinary and contextual sense as a receptacle so closed that access to the contents is impossible without breaking the fastening. Polythene bags, once filled and mechanically sealed, satisfied that test because the contents could not be accessed without breaking the seal. The distinction sought to be drawn between packing and container was rejected in view of the manner in which the goods were presented for sale and the controlling statutory language.

Conclusion: The polythene bags were sealed containers, the sales were taxable, and the assessee was not entitled to exemption.

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