Fruit drink classification under VAT law favoured inclusion in processed fruit entries on a broad common-parlance reading.

A mango-based fruit drink was treated as falling within Entry 100-D of Schedule-C of the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003 because the entry covered processed or preserved fruits and vegetables, including juice, drink, paste and powder made from fruits or vegetables. The relevant classification test was whether the product was a fruit drink in common parlance, not whether fruit content was predominant or whether the presence of water, sugar and flavouring altered its essential character. A broad, inclusive reading of the entry was adopted, and where two views were possible, the interpretation favourable to the assessee was preferred. On that basis, the product was not an unclassified item.

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Issues: Whether the product sold as a mango-based fruit drink fell within Entry 100-D of Schedule-C of the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003, or was liable to be treated as an unclassified item.

Analysis: The entry covered processed or preserved fruits and vegetables, including juice, drink, paste and powder made of fruits or vegetables. The relevant enquiry was whether the product was a drink made of fruit in common parlance, not whether the fruit content was predominant to the point of making the drink impossible to consume as such. The entry was wide enough to include a fruit drink merely because it contained water, sugar and flavouring along with mango pulp. The decisions relied on supported a broad, inclusive approach to such classification entries and the principle that, where two views are possible, the one favourable to the assessee may be adopted.

Conclusion: The product was covered by Entry 100-D of Schedule-C and was not exigible to tax as an unclassified item; the finding against the assessee was unsustainable.

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