( 1 ) A question of some importance has been mooted in this petition, under art. 226. The City Municipality of Davangere has been levying and collecting octroi on Poppy, Jeera Ani, Ajwan and Menthya, treating them as spices, while the contention of the petitioner is that they are chargeable to duty as oil-seeds. ( 2 ) THE petitioner is a merchant at Davangere trading in a variety qf provisions including the articles mentioned above. The Municipality has been levying octroi on goods brought for use within the Municipal limits. For the purpose of levy, the goods have been catagorised into different classes which have been set out in the schedule of the goods, liable to octroi duty. Class I in the said schedule consists of food stuffs and miscellaneous class II is headed 'animals' Class III consists of articles used 'for fuel lighting and waning. Item 5 in the said Class reads 'all sorts of oil seeds including cotton seeds but not including ground-nut. The levy of octroi on these, oil-seeds is 3p. per 10 Kgs. Class V is headed drugs, spices and perfumes'. Item 4 therein sets out 'spices and wet imli excluding salt petre'. The levy of octroi on spices and wet imli is at 2 per cent ad valorem. The petitioner, in support of his contention that Poppy, Jeera Ani, ajwan and Menthya, are oil-seeds and not spices relied upon a decision of this Court in Venkataramana Setty N Sons v. State of Mysore STRP 31/62 d/. 22-8-1963. . In that case the question for consideration was whether the said articles were oilseeds within the meaning of the word oil-seeds' under Entry 5 (d) of the fourth Schedule to the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957. This Court held that they should be regarded as oil-seeds' within the said entry and accordingly directed the levy of sales tax. , in my view, the above, decision is not directly applicable to the case on hand. The question herein has to be resolved on the scope of the relevant items in the schedule of goods chargeable to octroi duty, i. e. Item 5 in class III, and Item 4 in Class V of the Schedule. , in my view, the above, decision is not directly applicable to the case on hand. The question herein has to be resolved on the scope of the relevant items in the schedule of goods chargeable to octroi duty, i. e. Item 5 in class III, and Item 4 in Class V of the Schedule. ( 3 ) IN the statement of objections filed for the Municipality, it is stated that the said commodities are grown and used for the purpose of food stuffs only as spices and are not being used for extracting oil. It is further stated that by and large those commodities are consumed as such and vary little is being used for extraction of oil for special purposes. It is also stated that the fact that oil may be extracted out of them does not make them 'oilseeds' either in common parlance or otherwise. ( 4 ) FROM these averments we may take it that the said articles are used for extracting oil. There is no particular definition of the word oilseeds'. It seems to me that oilseeds' are thqse seeds from which oil can be extracted. It stands to reason both in common parlance and popular under standing. There is a detailed discussion regarding the nature of these articles in the decision of the Orissa High Court, in State of Orissa v. Dinabandhu Sahu and Sons (1969) 34 STC 233, 238. The learned Judges have referred to the, botanical names of some of these articles and it may be useful to set cut the same here under. Jeera (cumin seed) Cumin oil is distilled from the cumin seed and is used for medicine) flavouring and perfumery. It is a colourless or yello wish limpid liquid having characteristic odour of cumin. Postak (Poppy seed): botanical name papaver sornniferum. Poppy oil is a very pale golden yellow liquid with pleasant taste and odour extracted from the seeds and it is used as food oil, artist's colours, varnishes and lubrication. Methi (renugree) Botanical name trigonella foenum-graecum (vide p. 164 of Vol. 9 of the Encyclopaedia Britannica ). It is staged inter alia therein that it bears a siekle shapped pod, containing from 10 to 20 seeds, from which 6 per cent of a foetid, fatty and bitter oil can be extracted by either. " the articles like Ani and Ajwan also belong to the above group. 9 of the Encyclopaedia Britannica ). It is staged inter alia therein that it bears a siekle shapped pod, containing from 10 to 20 seeds, from which 6 per cent of a foetid, fatty and bitter oil can be extracted by either. " the articles like Ani and Ajwan also belong to the above group. From the above particulars, the articles in question, in my view, can properly be classified as oil-seeds'. ( 5 ) NEITHER under Item 5 in Class III nor under Item 4 in Class V of the schedule there is any mentioning of the names of the articles. But the intendment of the law appears to be apparent when we turn to Item 5 in Class III. The said item states ' all sorts of oil seeds' in which only one article i. e. , ground-nut is excluded. It is therefore proper that the articles with which we are concerned, since they are also calleed oil-seeds' must fall within the said item. We must notice the essential difference in the wordings between Item 5 in Class III and Item 4 in Class V of the schedule. Item 4 in Class 5 does not state ' all sorts of spices and wet Imli. It only provides 'spices and wet Imli' excluding salt petre. When there is no specific mention of the disputed articles in the said item and when the item does not state, ' all sorts of spices' and when the said articles could reasonably fall within the Item of ' all sorts of oil seeds' under Item 5 in class III I fail to see why they should be treated as spices. Rate of octroi on spices is more than that on oil-seeds. It is here, that the high principle in the interpretation of fiscal statutes, that in case of doubt, that doubt must be resolved in favour of the tax-payer, must be given effect to. The petitioner in my judgment is entitled to that benefit. The Municipality was therefore, in error in classifying the said provisions as spices and levying octroi on them. ( 6 ) IN the result, the petition is allowed, with a direction to, the respondent municipal Council to levy octroi on Poppy, Jeera, Ani, Ajwan and menthya seeds at the, rate admissible to oil-seeds' under Item 5 of Class III of the Schedule. ( 6 ) IN the result, the petition is allowed, with a direction to, the respondent municipal Council to levy octroi on Poppy, Jeera, Ani, Ajwan and menthya seeds at the, rate admissible to oil-seeds' under Item 5 of Class III of the Schedule. In the circumstances, I make no order as to costs. --- *** --- .