Ordinary parlance test for tax exemptions: ice-cream is not "cooked food" merely because heating occurs during manufacture.

Ice-cream manufactured and served in an ice-cream parlour was held not to be "cooked food" for purposes of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act exemption. The expression was construed in its ordinary and popular sense, as understood in the relevant market, and the final character of the product was treated as decisive. Although the manufacture of ice-cream may involve heating at an intermediate stage, that process does not convert the finished commodity into cooked food. Earlier decisions on restaurants, refreshment houses, and bakery items were found not to govern this specific classification issue, so the exemption did not apply.

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Issues: Whether ice-cream manufactured and served in an ice-cream parlour is "cooked food" within entry 12 of Schedule III of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 so as to qualify for exemption.

Analysis: The expression "cooked food" was construed in its ordinary and popular sense, consistent with the rule that words in a taxing statute are to be understood as they are commonly understood in the relevant market and local context. Though the process of making ice-cream may involve some heating at an intermediate stage, the character of the final product is decisive. Ice-cream is ordinarily not understood as cooked food, and the fact that some heating occurs during manufacture does not bring it within the exemption. The earlier decisions concerning restaurants, refreshment houses, and bakery items did not assist the assessee on the specific question whether ice-cream is cooked food.

Conclusion: Ice-cream served in the parlour is not cooked food and is not exempt under entry 12.

Final Conclusion: The revisional challenge failed because the commodity in question did not answer the statutory description required for exemption.

Ratio Decidendi: In taxing statutes, commodity classification depends on the ordinary parlance meaning of the item as finally understood in the market, and an intermediate heating process does not by itself make the final product "cooked food".

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