TaxTMI Login
Just a moment...
Press 'Enter' to add multiple search terms. Rules for Better Search
Use comma for multiple locations.
---------------- For section wise search only -----------------
Accuracy Level ~ 90%
of 
Press 'Enter' after typing page number.
of Press 'Enter' after typing page number.
No Folders have been created
Are you sure you want to delete "My most important" ?
NOTE:
of Press 'Enter' after typing page number.
of Press 'Enter' after typing page number.
All Case Laws
of Press 'Enter' after typing page number.
of Press 'Enter' after typing page number.
All Case Laws
Join Channel
Note
Bookmark
Share
Don't have an account? Register Here
of Press 'Enter' after typing page number.
Issues: (i) Whether, for the purposes of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, food supplied or offered by a hotelier to a resident customer against a consolidated charge for accommodation, amenities and food amounts to a sale of food. (ii) Whether the expression "store" in sections 7 and 16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 means storage simpliciter or storage for sale.
Issue (i): Whether, for the purposes of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, food supplied or offered by a hotelier to a resident customer against a consolidated charge for accommodation, amenities and food amounts to a sale of food.
Analysis: The definition of "sale" in the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 is wider than the definition used in sales tax legislation. It includes not only completed sales but also an agreement for sale, an offer for sale, exposing for sale and possession for sale. The object of the statute is to prevent adulterated food from being supplied to the public, and that object would be defeated if a hotelier could avoid liability merely because food is supplied as part of a composite tariff. Where food is offered for money consideration as part of the hotel transaction, the fact that the charge is consolidated and not separately itemised does not take the transaction outside the statutory concept of sale. The dominant purpose of the arrangement does not control the issue in the same way as under sales tax law.
Conclusion: Yes. The supply or offer of food by a hotelier to a customer against a consolidated charge amounts to a sale of food within the meaning of the Act, and the finding of the High Court on this issue is against the respondent.
Issue (ii): Whether the expression "store" in sections 7 and 16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 means storage simpliciter or storage for sale.
Analysis: Sections 7, 10 and 16 must be read together. The Act prohibits and penalises the sale, manufacture for sale, storage for sale and distribution for sale of adulterated food. Section 10 empowers the Food Inspector to take samples only in relation to food connected with such commercial activity. A construction of "store" as mere storage, regardless of any sale element, would extend the penal provision beyond the statutory scheme and beyond the reach of the sampling power. The word therefore takes its meaning from the context of the Act and the associated words used with it.
Conclusion: The word "store" means storage for sale, not storage simpliciter, and the High Court was right on this issue.
Final Conclusion: The appeals succeeded, the High Court's judgment was set aside, and the matters were remitted for decision on merits in accordance with law.
Ratio Decidendi: Under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, food offered by a hotelier for money consideration is a sale even if the consideration forms part of a composite charge, and the statutory expression "store" means storage for sale in the context of the Act's scheme against adulterated food.
TaxTMI 
