The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of the term 'cooked food' under the tax laws, emphasizing the inclusive and exclusive nature of the definition and the ordinary meaning of 'cook' and 'cooking'.

N.K. Jain, J.

1. Petitioner, a public limited company, is aggrieved by the orders of assessment (annexures B and C) passed by respondent No. 4, the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Tax, Indore, as also the orders passed in appeal, revision and reference (annexures D, E, F and G) by respondents Nos. 3, 2 and 1--the Deputy Commissioner, the Additional Commissioner, and the Commissioner, Commercial Tax, Indore, M.P. whereby all these authorities have held that fryums are not "cooked food" and liable to be taxed at the rate of 8 per cent under residuary entry 1 of Part VII of the Second Schedule to the Madhya Pradesh Vanijyik Kar Adhiniyam, 1994 (for short, "the Act of 1994").

2. Petitioner is engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of fryums, a snack food. The period under assessment was April 1, 1992 to March 31, 1993 and April 1, 1993 to March 31, 1994 when the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 (for short, "the Act of 1958") was in force which stood replaced by the Act of 1994 with effect from February 7, 1995. The original assessment seems to have been made under the Act of 1958 while the reference, appeals and revisions were disposed of under the provisions of the Act of 1994.

3. This case involves interpretation of serial No. 4 of Part I of the Second Schedule to the Act of 1958. The corresponding entry in the present Act of 1994 is at serial number 2 of Part I of the Second Schedule to that Act. The assessment in question was made under the residuary serial number 1 of Part VI of the Second Schedule to the Act of 1958. The corresponding provision in the new Act is contained as serial number 1 of Part VII of the Second Schedule thereto. In certain orders reference has been made to the provisions of the Act of 1958 whereas in others the provisions of the Act of 1994 are referred to. However, in either case the question requiring determination is :

"Whether fryums are 'cooked food' for the purposes of serial No. 4 of Part I of the Second Schedule to the Act of 1958 (corresponding serial No. 2 of Part I of the Act of 1994) ?

4. The expression "cooked food" has been defined under Clause (cc) of Section 2 of the Act of 1958 as follows :

"2(cc) 'cooked food' includes sweets and sweetmeats, mishri, batasha, chironji, shrikhand, rabadi, doodhpak but excludes ice-cream, kulfi, ice-candy, non-alcoholic drinks containing ice-creams, cakes, pastries, biscuits, chocolates, toffees, lozenges, peppermint drops and mawa."

More or less similar definition is given in Clause (g) of Section 2 of the present Act of 1994.

5. It is common to find definition clauses and interpretation clauses in a statute defining certain words and expressions used elsewhere in the body of the statute so as to avoid the necessity of frequent repetition in describing the subject-matter to which the word or expression so defined is intended to apply. The Legislature has power to define a word even artificially. So, such a definition may either be restrictive of its ordinary meaning or it may be extensive of the same. When a word is defined to "mean" such and such, the definition is generally construed as restrictive and exhaustive ; whereas, where the word defined is declared to 'include' such and such, the definition is prima facie extensive. A definition may also be both inclusive and exclusive, i.e., it may include certain things and exclude others (as is the case here). Limited exclusion of certain things may suggest that other categories of that thing which are not excluded fall within the apparently wide or inclusive definition (see : Syn. 8, Chap. Ill of Principles of Statutory Interpretation by Justice G.P. Singh, Vllth Edn.,)

6. In the instant case, the definition is both inclusive and exclusive declaring inclusion of certain things while excluding some others. Its inclusive part is apparently wide and extensive in nature inasmuch as the things declared included in the definition do not constitute an exhaustive list of "cooked food" for the purposes o