P. N. Bhagwati, J. - (1.) The question of law which arise for determination in this appeal lie in a very narrow compass and do not present any difficulty in answering them. They are the usual type of questions that arise under the Sales tax Legislation, namely whether a particular commodity sold or purchased by the assessee falls within one entry or another. The assessee always contends that it falls within an entry which attracts lesser rate of tax while the revenue invariably seeks to bring it within the entry attracting a larger rate of tax.
(2.) Two questions arise here for consideration. One question is whether certain ornaments and other articles of gold purchased by the assessee with a view to melting them and making new ornaments or other articles out of the melted gold fall within Entry 56 in the First Schedule of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act,1963 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") which reads "Bullion and specie". If the ornaments and other articles of gold purchased by the assessee fall within this Entry, the turnover of purchases of these goods would be liable to be taxed at the rate of 1 per cent, while it would have to suffer tax at the rate of 3 per cent if these goods do not fall within this Entry and are taxable under Section 5(1) (ii) of the Act. The other question relates taxation of the turnover of sales of G.I. Pipes effected by the assessee and it raises the point whether G. I. Pipes sold by the assessee fall within Entry 26A in the First Schedule to the Act which reads "Water Supply and Sanitary Fittings". If they do not fall within this Entry, the turnover of their sales would be 'liable to be taxed at the rate of 3 per cent under Sec. 5(1) (ii) of the Act, but if they do, then the rate of tax would be 7 per cent. The Sales Tax officer, and in appeal the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, decided both the questions against the assessee and taxed the turnover of purchases of ornaments and other articles of gold at the rate of 3 per cent and the turnover of sales of G. I. Pipes at the rate of 7 per cent. The Tribunal, on further appeal by the assessee disagreed with the view taken by the tax authorities and holding that the ornaments and other articles of gold purchased by the assesses were "Bullion and specie" within the meaning of Entry 56 and G. I. Pipes sold by the assesses were not covered by the expression "water supply and sanitary fittings" in Entry 26A, taxed the assessee at the lesser rates as claimed by him. The Revenue thereupon took the matter by way of revision to the High Court, but the High Court also took the same view and affirmed the judgment of the Tribunal. This decision of the High Court is assailed in the present appeal preferred by the Revenue after obtaining special leave from this Court.
(3.) We will first consider the question whether the ornaments and other articles of gold purchased by the assessee fall within the description of "Bullion and specie" given in Entry 56. There are two expression in this Entry which require consideration; one is "bullion" and the other is "specie". Now there is one cardinal rule of interpretation which has always to be borne in mind while interpreting entries in sales tax legislation and it is that the words used in the entries must be construed not in any technical sense nor from the scientific point of view but as understood in common parlance. We must give the words used by the legislature their popular sense meaning "that sense which people conversant with the subject-matter with which the statute is dealing would attribute to it." The word "bullion" must, therefore, be interpreted according to ordinary parlance and must be given a meaning which people conversant with this commodity would ascribe to it. Now it is obvious that "bullion" in the popular sense cannot include ornaments or other articles of gold. "Bullion" according to its plain ordinary meaning means gold or silver in the mass. It connotes gold or silver regarded as raw material and it may be either in the form of raw gold or silver or ingots or bars of gold or silver. The Shorter Oxford Dictionary gives the meaning of "bullion" as "gold or silver in the lump, also applied to coined or manufactured gold or silver considered as raw material." So also in Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law and Wharton's Law Lexicon we find that the following meaning is given for the word "bullion", uncoined gold and silver in the mass. These metals are called so, either when melted from the native ore and not perfectly refined, or where they are perfectly refined, but melted down into bars or ingots, or into any unwrought body, of any degree of fineness". It would, therefore, be seen that ornaments and other articles of gold cannot be regarded as "bullion" because, even if old and antiquated, they are not raw or unwrought gold or gold in the mass, but they represent manufactured of finished products of gold. Nor do they come within the meaning of the expression "specie". The word "specie" has a recognised meaning and according to Webster's New world Dictionary, is means "coin as distinguished from paper money". The Law Dictionary also give the same meaning. Whartin's Law Lexicon and Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law state the meaning of "specie" as "metallic money" and in Black's Law Dictionary, it is described as "coin of the precious metals, of a certain weight and fineness, and bearing the stamp of the Government, denoting its value as currency" while "Words and Phrases Permanent Editions-Vol. 39A" also gives the same meaning, Therefore, according to common parlance the word "specie" means any metallic coin which is used as currency and if that be the true meaning, it is obvious that ornaments and other articles of gold cannot be described as "specie". It would thus seem clear that the ornaments and other articles of gold purchased by the assessee do not fall within Entry 56 and they are, accordingly, liable to be taxed not at the lesser rate of 1 percent applicable to "bullion and specie" but at the general rate of 3 per cent under Section 5A read with section 5 (1) (ii) of the Act.;