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TMI Blog1964 (11) TMI 92X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Sales Tax under section 52 of the Act for the determination of the sales tax payable on the sale of the said goods. The applicants contended before the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax that the steel trunks sold by the applicants were not suit-cases within the meaning of entry 12 of Schedule E and were, therefore, covered by the residuary entry 22 of Schedule E which applied to all kinds of goods not specified in any entry in any of the Schedules of the Act. The Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax negatived the contention of the applicants and held that the word "suit-cases" was sufficiently wide to include steel trunks sold by the applicants and the said steel trunks were therefore covered by entry 12 of Schedule E and their sales were li ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e following terms: "Suit-cases, attache cases and despatch cases." The expression "suit-cases" in this entry has not been defined anywhere in the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, and it must, therefore, be construed as understood in ordinary parlance. It is a well-settled principle of construction of words used in a legislative enactment that since laws are enacted to be read and observed by the people, "in order to reach a reasonable and sensible construction thereof, words that are in common use among the people should be given the same meaning in the statute as they have among the great mass of the people who are expected to obey and uphold them". The expression "suit-cases" must, therefore, be construed in its popular sense, meaning "that se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to mean "a kind of small portmanteau". A similar meaning is also to be found in Shorter Oxford Dictionary where the meaning given is "a small rigid portmanteau originally designed to contain a suit of clothes". Chambers' Twentieth Century Dictionary gives the meaning as "an easily portable oblong travelling bag for carrying suits or clothes", and the meaning given in Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary is "a valise or travelling bag that is flat and rectangular in shape. Originally it was called a dress-suit case and was designed to contain a suit of clothes and accessories." It will be seen from these meanings given by various lexicographers that a suit-case is essentially an easily portable travelling bag used for carrying clothes ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is argument does not appear to be well-founded and a reference to only one or two entries in Schedule E is sufficient to answer this argument. Entry 10 mentions, amongst other things, clocks and time-pieces. Now clocks and time-pieces cannot possibly be called luxury goods or goods which are not ordinarily used by common men. Equally, when we turn to entry 9, we find a reference made to braids, borders, laces and trimmings when sold by weight at a price of not less than fifty naye paise per ten grammes or when sold by length at a price of not less than fifty naye paise per meter. Now these goods also cannot possibly be called luxury goods or goods of a costly variety. Entry 12 itself also shows that when the Legislature mentioned suit-cases ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wenty-one inches long was even less and this was in fact not disputed by Mr. R.C. Mankad. Steel trunks of this size are clearly articles for carrying clothes which are easily and conveniently portable on a journey and though they may not have the same finish and elegance as travelling bags made of rexine or aluminium and may be a little heavier than those bags, they still satisfy the test for determining what is a suit-case and must therefore be regarded as suit-cases within the meaning of entry 12 of Schedule E.
Our answer to the question referred to us will, therefore, be in the affirmative. The applicants will pay the costs of the reference to the State.
Reference answered in the affirmative. X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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