Common parlance classification separates tobacco-based pan parag from scented arecanut, with unclassified tax treatment depending on factual proof.

Commodity classification under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act turns on common parlance identity. Pan parag or pan masala without tobacco may fall within scented arecanut as an arecanut-based preparation, but tobacco-based pan parag is treated as a different commodity because consumers of tobacco products form a distinct class and it is not ordinarily regarded as scented arecanut. On that basis, tobacco-based pan parag, if proved to be the assessee's product, would be taxable as an unclassified item. The existing record did not contain a clear finding that the turnover consisted entirely of tobacco-based pan parag, so a final classification could not be made without that factual determination.

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Issues: Whether pan parag prepared with tobacco is distinct from scented arecanut under Item No. 165 of the First Schedule to the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, and whether the turnover of such tobacco-based product is liable to be assessed as an unclassified item.

Analysis: Classification turned on the nature of the product in common parlance. Pan parag or pan masala without tobacco was treated as an arecanut-based preparation falling within scented arecanut, but a tobacco-based preparation was held to stand on a different footing because consumers of tobacco products form a distinct class and such a product is not ordinarily treated as the same commodity as scented arecanut. The existing authorities had not recorded a clear finding whether the assessee's turnover consisted entirely of tobacco-based pan parag, so the factual basis necessary for final classification was absent.

Conclusion: Tobacco-based pan parag is not the same as scented arecanut and, if the assessee's sales were of that product, it would fall to be taxed as an unclassified item; the matter was remitted for a clear factual finding on that question.

Ratio Decidendi: For commodity classification, products are to be distinguished according to their identity in common parlance, and a tobacco-based preparation is not to be equated with an arecanut-based scented arecanut item.

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