Common parlance classification under VAT: branded snacks and oats were treated as specified food entries, not residual goods.

Under Puducherry VAT classification, branded potato chips and similar snack items were treated in common parlance as "savories" within the concessional entry for cooked food, rather than as goods falling in the residual category, because the notification did not distinguish based on branding, packaging, shelf life or preservatives. Branded oats were also held to answer the description of "porridge" in the Third Schedule, as oats are commonly understood as a grain-based soft food cooked with milk or water. The residual entry was confined to goods not reasonably covered by a specific entry, and any ambiguity was resolved in favour of the assessee. The Tribunal's order was set aside and the matter remitted for fresh assessment accordingly.

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Issues: (i) Whether branded potato chips and similar snack items were covered by the concessional entry for "all kinds of cooked food, including sweets, savories and mineral water" under the relevant Puducherry VAT notification, or were liable to tax under the residual entry; (ii) whether branded oats were classifiable as "porridge" under the Third Schedule rather than under the residual entry.

Issue (i): Whether branded potato chips and similar snack items were covered by the concessional entry for "all kinds of cooked food, including sweets, savories and mineral water" under the relevant Puducherry VAT notification, or were liable to tax under the residual entry.

Analysis: The applicable interpretive approach was the common parlance test, with resort to the residual entry only when the commodity cannot reasonably fit a specified entry. The expression "savories" was understood in ordinary commercial language to cover salty snack items, and the notification did not create any distinction based on brand, shelf life, or preservatives. The Court also applied the principle that where two views are possible, the one favouring the assessee should be preferred. On that footing, the packaged snack items were held to fall within the concessional notification and not the residual category.

Conclusion: The branded snack items were held taxable as "savories" at 2% and not under the residual entry.

Issue (ii): Whether branded oats were classifiable as "porridge" under the Third Schedule rather than under the residual entry.

Analysis: Applying common parlance, the Court treated oats as capable of answering the description of porridge because porridge is a soft food made from grains, including oats, cooked with milk or water. The Court rejected the Revenue's attempt to place the commodity in the residual entry and accepted the assessee's classification based on the ordinary meaning of the word and the schedule entry.

Conclusion: The branded oats were held taxable as "porridge" at 5% and not under the residual entry.

Final Conclusion: The Tribunal's order was set aside, the revision petitions were allowed, and the matter was sent back for consequential fresh assessment in accordance with the classification decided by the Court.

Ratio Decidendi: Taxing entries must be construed in common parlance, the residual entry can be used only when no specific entry reasonably covers the commodity, and where ambiguity remains, the interpretation favouring the assessee should prevail.

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