{"id":4789,"date":"2026-03-02T13:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bhatiabhola.com\/?p=4789"},"modified":"2026-03-02T13:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:14:10","slug":"gst-sc-judgement-dated-25-02-2026-hamdard-rooh-afza-classified-as-fruit-drink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bhatiabhola.com\/index.php\/blog\/2026\/03\/02\/gst-sc-judgement-dated-25-02-2026-hamdard-rooh-afza-classified-as-fruit-drink\/","title":{"rendered":"GST, SC Judgement Dated 25\/02\/2026 &#8211; Hamdard Rooh Afza classified as \u2018Fruit Drink\u2019\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Case of Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories vs Commissioner,\u00a0SC Judgement Dated 25<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0February 2026.<\/em>\u00a0The apex court held that Rooh Afza is classifiable as a \u201cfruit drink\u201d under Entry 103 of Schedule II (Part A). The Court ruled that the product attracts VAT at the concessional rate of 4%, and not 12.5% under the residuary entry, for the relevant period. It clarified that regulatory or licensing classifications under food laws cannot control interpretation of fiscal entries unless expressly incorporated in taxing statute. The court emphasised that where a product can reasonably fall within a specific entry, resort to residuary entry is impermissible.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1lH0EqLMeUJmxSVB-2RdcSZQjNcee68o4\/view?usp=sharing\"><em>(Link: SC Judgement Dated 25\/02\/2026)<\/em><\/a><em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Case of Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories vs Commissioner,\u00a0SC Judgement Dated 25th\u00a0February 2026.\u00a0The apex court held that Rooh Afza is classifiable as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gst","category-judiciary-gst"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>GST, SC Judgement Dated 25\/02\/2026 - Hamdard Rooh Afza classified as \u2018Fruit Drink\u2019\u00a0 - Bhatia Bhola &amp; 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