JUDGMENT U.L. BHAT, C.J. The following question of law has been referred to the High Court by the Appellate Tribunal at the instance of the Revenue under section 44(1) of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 (for short, "the Act") : "Whether under the facts and circumstances of the case, the Board of Revenue was justified in holding benzene hexachloride 50 per cent W.D.P. as medicine and thereby making them liable for exemption under rule 24 of the M.P. General Sales Tax Rules, 1959 on the strength of certificate issued by the Director of Health Services, M.P. ?" The assessee is an undertaking which manufactures and sells pesticides and insecticides. The period of assessment is April 1, 1980 to March 31, 1981. The assessing officer treated benzene hexachloride 50 per cent W.D.P. as insecticide and declined to treat it as medicine for purposes of item No. 16 of Part IV, Schedule II of the Act, read with rule 24 of the Rules framed under the Act. The appellate authority confirmed the order, but the Tribunal, in further appeal, held the article to be medicine and since the Joint Director, Health Services has certified that the consignments of the article were purchased by the Government for bona fide use in eradicating malaria under the National Malaria Eradication Programme, the sales were exempt from payment of sales tax under rule 24 of the Rules. At the instance of the Revenue, the Appellate Tribunal has made this reference. There is no dispute that benzene hexachloride 50 per cent W.D.P. is used in eradication of malaria by spraying it in marshy places and waterlogged places, evidently for controlling or destroying flies which carry malaria germs. It is nobody's case that benzene hexachloride 50 per cent W.D.P. is either consumed internally or applied externally on the body of human beings or animals for any medicinal purpose or for prevention or cure of malaria. Section 6 of the Act declares, inter alia, that tax payable by a dealer under the Act shall be levied on the taxable turnover relating to goods specified in Schedule II at the rate mentioned in the corresponding entry in column (3) of the said Schedule. Schedule II is in several parts. Entries 16 and 18 of Part IV read thus : "16. Drugs and medicines 5% 18. Insecticides and pesticides 5%" Rule 24 deals with deduction from turnover. Schedule II is in several parts. Entries 16 and 18 of Part IV read thus : "16. Drugs and medicines 5% 18. Insecticides and pesticides 5%" Rule 24 deals with deduction from turnover. In determining the taxable turnover, the turnover in respect of sales specified in various clauses of the rule shall be deducted. Clause (8)(ii) of the rule read as follows : "Sales of medicines, medical, surgical, veterinary instruments or equipment to :- (a) any officer of the State Government or Central Government; (b) the chief executive officer by whatever name called of a local body; (c) the Indian Red Cross Society or any branch thereof : Provided that in respect of every such sale, the officer of the State Government or the Central Government, the chief executive officer of the local body, the Secretary of the Indian Red Cross Society or any branch thereof, as the case may be, certifies that the medicines, the medical, surgical or veterinary instruments or equipment are intended for bona fide use in any hospital or dispensary including a veterinary hospital or dispensary located within the State in his jurisdiction or for free distribution in connection with the scheme for the prevention, control or treatment of disease." A close examination of the rule indicates that in order to claim exemption under clause (8), the following conditions must be satisfied : (i) the sales must be of medicines, medical, surgical, veterinary instruments or equipment; (ii) the sales must be to any officer of the State or Central Government, Chief Executive Officer of a local body or Indian Red Cross Society; and (iii) the officers referred to above or the Secretary of the society shall certify that the medicines and equipments : (a) are intended for bona fide use in any hospital or dispensary in the State in his jurisdiction, or (b) the medicines or equipments are intended for free distribution in connection with the scheme for prevention, control or treatment of the disease. The Joint Director, Health Services has certified that the purchases of benzene hexachloride 50 per cent W.D.P. were made to the assessee and the same is used bona fide to eradicate malaria under the National Malaria Eradication Programme and the sales are exempt from payment of sales tax under rule 24. The certificate nowhere states that benzene hexachloride 50 per cent W.D.P. is a medicine. The certificate nowhere states that benzene hexachloride 50 per cent W.D.P. is a medicine. The Appellate Tribunal has held that the article is medicine, since it is used to eradicate malaria. This conclusion is controverted by the Revenue according to which benzene hexachloride 50 per cent W.D.P. is an insecticide corning under the provisions of the Insecticides Act, 1968 and is not medicine coming under rule 24(ii)(a) or the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, or the Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act, 1955 (No. 16 of 1955). It has to be noticed that the expression "medicine" or "insecticide" have not been defined in the Act or the Rules. Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 is a Central Act which also does not define medicine, but defines "drug" as follows, in section 3(b) : "'drug' includes, - (i) all medicines for internal or external use of human beings or animals and all substances intended to be used for or in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of any disease or disorder in human beings or animals, including preparations applied on human body for the purpose of repelling insects like mosquitoes; (ii) such substances (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the human body or intended to be used for the destruction of vermin or insects which cause disease in human beings or animals as may be specified from time to time by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette." The Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 1987 defines "drug" in the same way. First Schedule contains list of bulk drugs required for the National Health Programmes. Item V relating to National Filaria Eradication Programme mentions drugs as chloroquine, amodinquine, quinine, primethemine and sulfamethopyrezine. Second Schedule also contains list of bulk drugs including benzathine, benzylpencillin, cloxacillin, but not benzene hexachloride. The Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act, 1955 defines medicinal preparation and toilet preparation. Item V relating to National Filaria Eradication Programme mentions drugs as chloroquine, amodinquine, quinine, primethemine and sulfamethopyrezine. Second Schedule also contains list of bulk drugs including benzathine, benzylpencillin, cloxacillin, but not benzene hexachloride. The Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act, 1955 defines medicinal preparation and toilet preparation. Medicinal preparation is defined thus in section 2(g) : "2(g) 'medicinal preparation' includes all drugs which are a remedy or prescription prepared for internal or external use of human beings or animals and all substances intended to be used for or in the treatment, mitigation or prevention of disease in human beings or animals." Section 2(k) defines "toilet preparation" thus : "2(k) 'toilet preparation' means any preparation which is intended for use in the toilet of the human body or in perfuming apparel of any description, or any substance intended to cleanse, improve or alter the complexion, skin, hair or teeth, and includes deodorants and perfumes." Our attention is invited to the decision of the Rajasthan High Court in Murari Brothers v. Assistant Commercial Taxation Officer [1981] 48 STC 286 under the provisions of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954. It was held that Kajal meant for daily use as a cleansing agent, falls within item 59 of the Schedule to the notification issued under the Act relating to "perfumery, cosmetic and toilet articles" and cannot be considered as medicine. The court referred to the repeated observations of the Supreme Court that where the words employed in a taxing statute are words of every day use, they must be construed not in any technical or scientific sense, but they must be understood as used in common parlance and in commercial language. The Insecticides Act, 1968 is intended to regulate activities in connection with insecticides. Section 3(e) defines insecticide as : "(e) 'insecticide' means - (i) any substance specified in the Schedule; or (ii) such other substances (including fungicides and weedicides) as the Central Government may, after consultation with the Board, by notification in the official Gazette, include in the Schedule from time to time; or (iii) any preparation containing any one or more of such substances." The Schedule takes in B.H.C. (Benzene Hexachlorides) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - hexachlorohexane). We have indicated that the General Sales Tax Act or the Rules do not define "medicine" or "insecticide". We have indicated that the General Sales Tax Act or the Rules do not define "medicine" or "insecticide". The definitions or expressions in other statutes cannot always be applied in dealing with the case governed by statute which does not contain a definition. Learned counsel for the assessee Shri Nema referred to the observations of the Allahabad High Court in Rashtra Deep Laboratory v. Commissioner of Sales Tax [1983] 53 STC 419 to the effect that the concept of medicine is not static. It is a changing concept linked with the advancing human knowledge and its endeavour to alleviate human suffering. It is also changing with the change in social thinking of a community with a view to solve its problems. The court observed that the term "medicine" cannot be confined within the traditional concept of an article which by itself is enough to cure human ailment. The court referred with approval to the observations of the learned single Judge of the Allahabad High Court in Commissioner, Sales Tax, U.P., Lucknow v. Fadral Chemical Works Ltd. [1983] 53 STC 425 (All.) [App.]. In this case it was held that tartaric acid which could also be regarded as pertaining to chemistry, is a medicine. This was on the basis of the fact that tartaric acid or its derivatives are used in the preparation of purgatives which undoubtedly would be medicine. In Delhi Cloth & General Mills Co. Ltd. v. State of Rajasthan [1980] 46 STC 256; AIR 1980 SC 1552 , the Supreme Court held : "In determining the meaning or connotation of words and expressions describing an article or commodity the turnover of which is taxed in a sales tax enactment, if there is one principle fairly well-settled it is that the words or expressions must be construed in the sense in which they are understood in the trade, by the dealer and the consumer. It is they who are concerned with it, and it is the sense in which they understand it that constitutes the definitive index of the legislative intention when the statute was enacted." It is, therefore, the duty of the statutory authority as well as the court to construe the word "medicine" as it is commonly understood in the market by the dealer and the consumer and not necessarily according to the definition in any other statute. The definition of drug in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 is in two parts. In the first part, it is said to be medicine for internal or external use and all substances intended to be used for or in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of any disease or disorder in human beings or animals. In the second part, it means such substances intended to affect the structure or any function of the human body or intended to be used for the destruction of vermin or insects which cause disease in human beings or animals as may be specified from time to time by the Central Government by notification in the official Gazette. It is not brought to our notice that the article in question has been specified by the Government. It is significant to note that the second part of the definition does not use the word "medicine" which word is used in the first part of the definition of "drug". The definition of "medicinal preparation" in the Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act, 1955 includes only drugs which are remedies or prescription prepared for internal or external use of human beings or animals and all substances intended to be used for or in the treatment, mitigation or prevention of disease in human beings or animals, which is almost identical to the first part of the definition of "drug" in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. It is common case that benzene hexachloride is used to spray marshy places and waterlogged places for the purpose of containing and destroying malaria carrying germs. It is not to be consumed internally by any human being or animal or applied externally. Several insecticides are used for destruction of genus mainly, if not only, for prevention of spread of diseases, e.g., benzene hexachloride, tik-20, red poison, D.D.T., etc. If a person wants to prevent, being afflicted by malaria or treatment for malaria and goes to a medical shop and asks for medicine, it is inconceivable that he would be given any quantity of benzene hexachloride which is essentially an insecticide. The popular or commercial concept of medicine is necessarily something consumed internally or applied externally on human body and insecticide which is used to kill or contain malaria germs is not in common parlance, be regarded as medicine. The popular or commercial concept of medicine is necessarily something consumed internally or applied externally on human body and insecticide which is used to kill or contain malaria germs is not in common parlance, be regarded as medicine. The above view is in accord with what the authors of English dictionaries have also indicated. Following are the meanings given to the expression "medicine" in Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, Twenty-sixth Edition, page 785 : Medicine : 1. Any drug or remedy. 2. The art and science of the diagnosis and treatment of disease and the maintenance of health. 3. The treatment of disease by non-surgical means. The expression "medicine" has been defined as follows in Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary, Second Edition, page 1118 : Medicine : 1. The science and art of diagnosing, treating, curing and preventing disease, relieving pain and improving and preserving health. 2. The branch of this science and art that makes use of drugs, diet, etc., as distinguished especially from surgery and obstetrics. 3. (a) Any drug or other substance used in treating disease, healing or relieving pain. (b) A drug or other substance as a poison love-potion, etc., used for other purposes. The expression "medicine" has been explained as follows at page 507 of the Oxford Large Print Dictionary : Medicine : 1. The scientific study of the prevention and cure of diseases and disorders of the body. 2. This, as distinct from surgery. 3. A substance used to treat a disease, etc., especially one taken by mouth. In the light of the above materials, the only reasonable conclusion could be that by "medicine" is meant some substance which is to be taken internally or applied externally for preventing, mitigating or treating a disease of the body or mind. It follows that benzene hexachloride which can be used only to kill malaria germs, cannot be regarded as medicine. The Board of Revenue was impressed by the certificate issued by the Joint Director, Health Services that benzene hexachloride is entitled to exemption. The Board indicated that in technical matter, the opinion of a technical expert should guide it. We have indicated that the certificate nowhere states that the Joint Director was of the view that benzene hexachloride is a medicine. He only indicated that it was purchased for eradication of malaria under a scheme and, therefore, exempt from payment of sales tax. The Board indicated that in technical matter, the opinion of a technical expert should guide it. We have indicated that the certificate nowhere states that the Joint Director was of the view that benzene hexachloride is a medicine. He only indicated that it was purchased for eradication of malaria under a scheme and, therefore, exempt from payment of sales tax. The opinion expressed is not an expert opinion on something connected with medicine, but an expert opinion on the interpretation of law. The view taken by the Joint Director of Health Services cannot certainly be of any value in interpreting the provision of law. It is relevant only to show that the consignments of benzene hexachloride were sold to an office of the Government for use in eradicating malaria under a National Scheme. Rule 24 is not applicable in this case. In the result, the question is answered in the negative, i.e., in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee. There will be no direction as to costs. The reference is answered accordingly. A copy of this judgment under the signature of the Registrar and seal of the High Court be forwarded to the appellate authority. Reference answered in the negative.