Trade and common parlance govern cookware classification; non-stick coated utensils fall outside ordinary aluminium ware and under the specific entry.

Satilon-coated and tuflon-coated cookware were held not to be ordinary aluminium household utensils under Entry 5 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, because the non-stick coating materially changed their character, utility, and market identity. Applying trade and common parlance, the Court treated such cookware as different from aluminium ware and upheld classification under Entry 104 for similar home appliances. The 1999 amendment inserting non-stick cookware into Entry 104 was regarded as clarificatory, reinforcing that this was the intended treatment. The revenue's classification was sustained and the appeals failed.

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Issues: Whether satilon-coated and tuflon-coated cookware are classifiable as aluminium household utensils under Entry 5 of the First Schedule to the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, or as similar home appliances under Entry 104, and whether the 1999 amendment to Entry 104 was clarificatory.

Analysis: The coated cookware was held to be different from ordinary aluminium household utensils because the coating made the goods non-stick and altered their character, utility, and market understanding. In trade and common parlance, such products would not be described as aluminium ware. The amendment inserting non-stick cookware in Entry 104 was treated as clarificatory, supporting the view that the goods were always intended to fall within that entry.

Conclusion: The cookware was not classifiable under Entry 5 and was rightly classified under Entry 104.

Final Conclusion: The classification adopted by the revenue authorities was sustained and the appeals failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For sales tax classification, the nature of the product as understood in trade and common parlance prevails, and a coating that materially changes the character and utility of cookware can take it out of the entry for ordinary aluminium utensils and place it within the specific entry for similar home appliances.

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