Exemption for fruit transport hinges on ordinary and legal meaning of fruit, not edibility.

Where an exemption notification uses the term "fruit" without definition, the expression is construed in its ordinary and legal sense. On that approach, the relevant test is whether the produce is the ripened ovary of a tree, not whether it is edible in common usage. Applying that interpretation, palm oil fruit was treated as fruit for purposes of the Goods Transport Agency service tax exemption under Notification No. 33/2004-ST, so the denial of exemption was unsustainable and the demand did not survive.

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Issues: Whether palm oil fruit is covered by Notification No. 33/2004-ST dated 03.12.2004 so as to qualify for exemption from service tax on Goods Transport Agency services.

Analysis: The notification did not define "fruit", so its meaning had to be gathered from ordinary and legal usage. The ordinary dictionary sense referred to the ripened ovary or an edible form of a plant product, while the legal meaning in judicial dictionaries was wider and not confined to commonly understood edible fruits. On that basis, the relevant test was whether the produce was the result of a ripened ovary of a tree, not whether it was edible. The transported product was palm oil fruit, and the material on record supported that it was a fruit in that sense.

Conclusion: Palm oil fruit is covered by the exemption notification and the denial of exemption was . The finding was in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The demand and consequential service tax liability did not survive, and the appeal succeeded with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification uses the term "fruit" without definition, it is to be understood in its ordinary and legal sense, and a produce of a tree that is the result of a ripened ovary qualifies as fruit irrespective of whether it is edible.

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