Common parlance test controls sales tax classification of KADIPROL as poultry feed, not drug or medicine.

Sales tax classification of goods must be determined by their common and commercial parlance meaning, not by a purely technical or scientific description. The Gujarat High Court noted that the competent Food and Drugs authority had treated KADIPROL as an animal feed supplement and had not required a drugs licence for its manufacture or sale. On that basis, the taxing authority and Tribunal were not justified in reclassifying it as a drug or medicine merely because it contained a preventive ingredient. The product was therefore treated as poultry feed, and the decision reaffirmed that poultry feed may include additives such as vitamins, minerals and antibiotics when commercially understood as feed.

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Issues: Whether the product 'KADIPROL' manufactured by the appellant is classifiable under Entry 25 of Schedule I of the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969 as poultry feed, or under the entry relating to drugs and medicines.

Analysis: Classification of goods under a sales tax entry is to be determined by the meaning understood in common parlance and commercial parlance, not by a merely technical or scientific description. The product had been described by the competent Food and Drugs authority as an animal feed supplement and as not requiring a licence under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act for manufacture and sale. In those circumstances, the taxing authority and the Tribunal were not justified in substituting their own view to treat the product as a drug or medicine merely because it contained a preventive ingredient. The concept of poultry feed is not confined to conventional food and may include additives such as vitamins, minerals and antibiotics, but the decisive question remains the ordinary commercial understanding of the product.

Conclusion: The product 'KADIPROL' falls under Entry 25 of Schedule I of the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969 as poultry feed and not under the drugs and medicines entry.

Ratio Decidendi: For sales tax classification, the decisive test is the common and commercial parlance understanding of the goods, and an expert authority's view on the product's character cannot be disregarded without justification.

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