1989 (1) TMI 354

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....dehydration or any other preserving process, including almond, khasta badam, pistachio, nut, chilgoza or neoza, apricot, alubukhara, cashew-nut, walnut, fig, raisin (locally known as kismis or monacca) and date (locally known as khajur, zahedi or sohera) but excluding any fruit which is oil-seed as defined in section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (Act 74 of 1956)." The precise point for determination is whether betel-nut could be called "dry or preserved fruit". 2.. It is an accepted rule of interpretation that in a matter like the one at hand it is the common sense view or the popular sense which has to be followed while deciding whether a commodity is taxable under the provisions of the Sales Tax Act. The botanical or techni....

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....ch is taxed in a sales tax enactment if there be one principle fairly well-settled, it is that the words or expressions must be construed in the sense in which they are understood in the trade, by the dealer and the consumer.   4.. In Ganesh Trading Co. v. State of Haryana [1973] 32 STC 623 (SC), it was stated as below in this connection: "This Court has firmly ruled that in finding out the true meaning of the entries mentioned in a Sales Tax Act, what is relevant is not the dictionary meaning, but how those entries are understood in common parlance, specially in commercial circles." 5.. Relying on the aforesaid decisions, it was submitted by Shri Bhattacharjee that a betel-nut would never be understood in common parlance as a....

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....se definitions Shri Konwar has urged that a betel-nut has also to be regarded as a dry fruit. As against this, Shri Bhattacharjee has referred to the meaning of "betel-nut" as given in Chambers 20th Century Dictionary wherein it has been defined to mean "areca-nut". The definition of "areca-nut" has been given as "the nut of areca catechu chewed by the Malays, Southern Indians, etc., with lime in a betel pepper leaf". This being the definition of "betelnut" as given in this dictionary Shri Bhattacharjee submits that the betel-nut cannot be regarded as a fruit. Before leaving the dictionary meanings given to various words it would be apposite to point out that the word "nut" has been defined in the Chambers 20th Century Dictionary as "any fr....