JUDGMENT
M. Fathima Beevi, J.
1. The tax revision case under Section 41 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 read with Rule 41(1) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Rules, 1963 is filed by the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax. The respondent-assessee is a dealer in sambar powder, meat masala, pickle powder, etc. The sales turnover of these powders were assessed to tax in the assessment year 1983-84 at the rate of 8 per cent treating the same as “spices”. The appeal filed by the assessee before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner of Agricultural Income-tax and Sales Tax failed. In second appeal by the assessee the Tribunal held that these powders could not be treated as spices but only as general goods taxable at the general rate of 4 per cent. Aggrieved by the decision of the Tribunal the Revenue has filed the tax revision case.
2. According to the Revenue, the three curry powders constituted mainly ingredients like chilly and coriander which are liable to be assessed at the rate of 8 per cent and so the mixture of these ingredients has also to be classified as spices. The view held by the Tribunal is that the commodity emerged from various ingredients cannot be held as either chillies or coriander and a new commodity has emerged from mixing the various ingredients for which there is no entry in the First Schedule attached to the Act and therefore the commodities known as sambar powder, meat masala and pickle powder can be treated only as general goods liable at the rate of 4 per cent multi-point.
3. The question of law thus raised is whether sambar powder, meat masala, pickle powder, etc., are spices under entry 27 of the First Schedule to the Kerala General Sales Tax Act. In the First Schedule specifying goods in respect of which single point tax is leviable under Sub-section (1) or Subsection (2) of Section 5, item 27 reads:
27 Spices (including chillies and At the point of first sale in the 8. coriander seed) not falling State by a dealer who is liable under any other items in this to tax under Section 5. Schedule.
This entry comes under the general head coffee, tea, spices and manufactures thereof. Item 22 is green tea leaves and manufactured tea. Item 23 is garbled pepper and ungarbled pepper. Item 24 is cardamom, item 25 green and dried ginger, item 26 turmeric, item 26A compounded asafoetida, item 28 kacholam, and item 28A is cocoa. Spices “not falling in any other item” in the Schedule included as item 27, thus take its hue and colour from the general species “spices”. Item 27 does not include any manufactures of spices as admixture of coffee, chicory, dried ginger, manufactured tea, etc.
4. The item “spices” has not been defined in the Act. The dictionary meaning of the word has to be looked into. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English language defines “spices” as “any of various aromatic and pungent vegetable substances such as cinnamon or nutmeg used to flavour foods or beverages”. In Shorter Oxford Dictionary “spices” means “aromatic or pungent vegetable substances used to flavour food”. In other dictionaries “spices” means “various strongly flavoured or aromatic substances of vegetable origin, obtained from tropical plants commonly used in condiments, etc.” “Condiment” means “anything of pronounced flavour used as a relish or to stimulate the appetite”.
5. It is the original product which is intended as spices and not any manufactured product. The position may be different if there had been only the mixture of coriander and chilly without any process whatsoever. Where coriander and chilly are powdered and mixed in certain proportion with or without other items, the mixture loses its original flavour and no longer retains the character as spices, even though the mixture may be one which is used in the preparation of food and for adding flavour.
6. On the scheme of the Sales Tax Act the incidence under the Schedules is limited only to articles specified by the statute itself and whatever is not so specified is not subject to any levy thereunder. The provisions of a taxing statute should be strictly construed so that its incidence is not extended beyond the sanction of the law. In case of doubt such interpretation should be preferred which benefits the persons who have been made liable to the incidence. The term “spices” should, therefore, be construed as is understood in common parlance. It was held in Netai Mohan Saha v. State of West Bengal [1983] 62 STC 329 (Cal) that the expression “spices” is nothing but an ingredient which adds flavour to food. Item 27 including chillies and coriander seeds does not include the powders thereof. Even if chillies and coriander seeds would thus be taxable at 8 per cent, the powders thereof not treated as spices cannot fall under the net of this entry. We hold that the Tribunal was correct in the view that the goods specified do not come under item 27 and could be taxed only as general goods.
The tax revision fails and it is, accordingly, dismissed.