Popular meaning of "furniture" excludes specialised surgical tables used for medical and orthopaedic functions.

Specialised power-operated surgical tables with electronic and orthopaedic accessories were not "furniture" under the Kerala Entry Tax Schedule. The entry had to be read in its popular sense, as understood in trade and by consumers, and the items' essential character lay in their medical and surgical functions rather than any ordinary furnishing use. While common hospital tables, chairs and similar articles may fall within the entry, surgical tables of this specialised kind do not. They therefore did not attract entry tax.

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Issues: Whether surgical tables and related medical equipment detained at the check-post were "furniture" liable to entry tax under the Schedule to the Kerala Tax on Entry of Goods into Local Areas Act.

Analysis: The entry in the Schedule had to be construed in its popular sense, as understood in trade and by consumers. The items in question were specialised, power-operated surgical tables with electronic and orthopaedic accessories, designed for use in operation theatres and not for ordinary household, office, or hospital furnishing. Their essential character and value lay in the medical and surgical functions performed by the attached equipment, not in any furniture-like use. Ordinary hospital articles such as tables, chairs, and similar items may fall within the entry, but specialised surgical tables of this nature do not.

Conclusion: The surgical tables were not furniture and did not attract entry tax.

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