Common parlance test for cooked food: biscuits baked with heat were treated as cooked food under sales tax law.

Biscuits were treated as "cooked food" under section 3(1)(a) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 because the expression was construed in its ordinary and common parlance sense. The Court held that baking involves application of heat, and rejected the Revenue's narrower view that cooked food must mean items ordinarily eaten as regular meals. It also treated the Commissioner's circular on baking and bread as a relevant interpretive aid, particularly because it reflected a long-standing administrative construction. On that basis, biscuits fell within the cooked food category and the dealer could not claim the lower turnover limit applicable to manufacturers of goods other than cooked food.

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Issues: Whether biscuits are "cooked food" within section 3(1)(a) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, so as to keep a dealer manufacturing and selling them within the lower turnover limit applicable to dealers manufacturing goods other than cooked food.

Analysis: The expression "cooked food" was construed in its ordinary and common parlance sense. Biscuits are articles of food and are prepared by baking, which is a process involving application of heat. The Court accepted that the Revenue could not confine "cooked food" only to items ordinarily taken as meals at regular meal times. The administrative circular issued by the Commissioner clarifying that baking or preparation of bread amounts to manufacture of cooked food was treated as a relevant extraneous aid to interpretation, especially since it reflected the construction acted upon for a long period. On that footing, biscuits were regarded as cooked food, and the distinction sought to be drawn from the Madhya Pradesh decision was held inapplicable.

Conclusion: Biscuits are cooked food within section 3(1)(a) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, and the applications were rightly rejected.

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