Packaged drinking water classification turned on common parlance: KINLEY WATER was treated as tax-free water, not mineral water.

Packaged drinking water sold as KINLEY WATER was classified by applying common parlance and trade understanding rather than a purely scientific or departmental test. The Court referred to BIS specifications and the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules to distinguish packaged drinking water from natural mineral water, and held that treatment for purification and safety, with only added sodium and magnesium salts, did not by itself make the product mineral water. As the Revenue failed to show the ingredients or characteristics required for mineral water, the commodity remained packaged drinking water for safe human consumption and fell within Entry No. 39 of the Tax-free List, not as mineral water under the taxable entry.

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Issues: Whether packaged drinking water sold under the brand name KINLEY WATER falls within Entry No. 4 of the Taxable List as mineral water or within Entry No. 39 of the Tax-free List as water but not aerated or mineral water sold in bottles or sealed containers.

Analysis: The classification of the commodity had to be determined by common parlance and trade understanding, not by a purely scientific or departmental view. The Court considered the Bureau of Indian Standards specifications and the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, which distinguish packaged drinking water from natural mineral water. It noted that packaged drinking water is water subjected to treatment processes for purification and safety, and that mere addition of sodium and magnesium salts did not, on the evidence, convert it into mineral water. The Revenue did not establish that the product contained the ingredients or characteristics required for mineral water, and the contemporaneous record showed the commodity as packaged drinking water intended for safe human consumption.

Conclusion: KINLEY WATER is not mineral water or aerated water for the purpose of the OST entries and falls within Entry No. 39 of the Tax-free List.

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