Common parlance test governs sales tax classification of powdered lime products under concessional and higher-rated entries.

For sales tax classification, a commodity must be identified in common parlance rather than by technical or scientific analysis. The use to which the article may be put, and the nature of the dealer, do not determine its classification. On that approach, "Janatha Cem" was treated as a powdered lime product answering the trade description of dehydrated lime, bringing it within the concessional entry for lime and dehydrated lime rather than the higher-rated entry for lime products and white-washing materials.

---

---

Issues: Whether the commodity sold as "Janatha Cem" was classifiable as lime or dehydrated lime entitled to the reduced rate of tax under Notification SRO No. 1728/93, or as a lime product or white-washing material taxable at the higher rate under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963.

Analysis: The relevant approach to classification under sales tax law is the common parlance or popular sense test, not a technical or scientific one. A commodity must be identified by the sense in which persons dealing with it would understand it. The entry granting the reduced rate covered lime and dehydrated lime, which the Court treated as lime without moisture content, whereas entry 74 of the First Schedule covered lime products and other white-washing materials. The Court held that the user test was not decisive, because the use to which a commodity may be put does not determine its tax classification, and the nature of the dealer is also irrelevant. Applying these principles, the Court found that "Janatha Cem" was a powdered form of lime having a lime base and, in trade parlance, answered the description of dehydrated lime.

Conclusion: "Janatha Cem" was held to be lime powder or dehydrated lime and entitled to the reduced rate of tax under Notification SRO No. 1728/93, not the higher rate under entry 74 of the First Schedule.

Final Conclusion: The revision petitions succeeded and the assessments were set aside in favour of the assessee on the classification and rate of tax issue.

Ratio Decidendi: For sales tax classification, the commodity must be understood in common parlance, and where a specific exemption or concessional entry squarely covers the article, its incidental use or the dealer's business cannot justify recourse to a more general and higher-rated entry.

---