TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1964 (11) TMI 88
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.... that the borders were exempt from tax inasmuch as they were handloom cloth covered by entry 29 of Schedule A. The Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax, however, took the view that borders though woven on handloom were not handloom cloth within the meaning of that expression as used in entry 29 of Schedule A and were taxable under entry 9 of Schedule E. The assessees thereupon preferred an appeal before the Tribunal. The same contentions which were urged before the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax were repeated before the Tribunal. The Tribunal held that the borders were handloom cloth within the meaning of entry 29 of Schedule A and the sale of the borders was, therefore, exempt from tax. The State being aggrieved by this decision of the Tribunal preferred an application for a reference and on the application the Tribunal referred the following two questions for the opinion of the Court: "(1) Whether Indori borders containing more than 60 per cent. of pure silk and woven on handloom out of silk, art silk and jari threads are handloom cloth within the meaning of entry 29 in Schedule A to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959? (2) If the answer to question (1) above is in the affirmative....
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....onsidered is whether handloom borders of the kind sold by the assessees are handloom cloth within the meaning of that expression as used in entry 29 of Schedule A. If they are, their sale would be exempt from tax but if they are not, their sale would be taxable under entry 9 of Schedule E. Now what does "handloom cloth" in entry 29 of Schedule A connote? Does it mean any fabric woven on handloom or does it have a limited meaning? If the word "cloth" is given its primary and technical meaning, it would include any woven fabric and in that view any fabric woven on handloom would be handloom cloth and handloom borders being admittedly fabrics woven on handloom would be handloom cloth. But words often have a secondary or popular meaning and when that is the case, the principle to be applied in interpreting the meaning in which a word is used in a statute is to construe the word in its popular sense meaning "that sense which people conversant with the subject-matter with which the statute is dealing would attribute to it." See Ramavatar Budhaiprasad v. The Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Akola and Another[1961] 12 S.T.C. 286. The question which must be asked in such a case is, what is t....
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....hose conversant with and dealing in such cloth and not the general or technical connotation of the word 'cloth' as given in the various dictionaries....." He thereafter proceeded to apply this meaning to the facts of the case before us and concluded in the following words: "The expression 'cloth' has acquired a secondary meaning, that is to say, a meaning attached to that expression in common parlance by those dealing in and conversant with handloom cloth, and the carpet of the type we have before us would not, in our view, be included in the expression 'handloom cloth of all varieties'. On the principle laid down by the Supreme Court in Ramavatar Budhaiprasad[1961] 12 S.T.C. 286., and by the Andhra High Court in the case of Kosuri Subba Raju[1956] 7 S.T.C. 479., we would hold that the carpet in question would not be covered by entry No. 29....." Having regard to these observations it is clear that the word "cloth" in entry 29 of Schedule A must be interpreted according to its secondary or popular sense and not in its primary or technical sense meaning any woven fabric by whatever name be it known or called in trade and amongst the people. Mr. Kaji, learned Advocate appearing....
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....cloth of all varieties meant handloom fabric of any kind, whatever be the name by which it may be known in the trade or amongst the people, whether as cloth or otherwise, and whatever be the use to which it may be put, whether for the purpose of preparing garments or for covering or as an adjunct of other wearing apparel and any fabric woven on handloom was therefore covered by the expression "handloom cloth". This argument is, in our opinion, not well-founded. It is defective in that it assumes that the words "of all varieties" enlarge the true meaning and content of the expression "handloom cloth" as used in the entry. Of course handloom cloth within the meaning of the entry may be handloom cloth of any variety but it must still be handloom cloth and the words "of all varieties" do not control or affect the true connotation of what is handloom cloth within the meaning of the entry. The Legislature used the words "of all varieties" for the purpose of bringing within the ambit of the exemption all varieties of handloom cloth provided they satisfied the basic requirement that they were handloom cloth. And the reason for adding these words was obvious. Entry 15 referred to cotton ....
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....in its primary or technical sense as meaning any fabric woven on handloom, the Legislature would have used the words "handloom fabrics" and not "handloom cloth". The Legislature was aware of the expression "fabrics" and in fact used that expression in entries 15, 41, 43-A and 51 but when it came to entry 29, the Legislature deliberately did not use that expression but instead chose to use another expression, namely, "cloth". This would clearly indicate that in entry 29 the Legislature did not intend to use the expression "cloth" in its primary or technical sense as meaning any fabric but used it in its secondary or popular sense. Taking then, the secondary or popular meaning of the word "cloth" the question which we must ask ourselves is: would a trader dealing in handloom cloth regard borders as handloom cloth? Would in ordinary parlance borders be referred to or known as handloom cloth? The answer is obviously no. When one talks of handloom cloth in common parlance, one means handloom cloth which can be used for preparing garments or as wearing apparel or for covering or for similar other purpose. One would not think of borders when the expression "handloom cloth" is used. Bor....