An egg is spheroidal body produced by a female bird reptile or insect containing germ, of new individual especially that of domestic fowl for eating. In common parlance or in popular sense in the State of Assam or as a matter of that in India, egg is never considered as ‘flash’. Even if we assume that flesh of domestic birds is meat we cannot accept that embryo enclosed in a shell produced by a hen, reptile or insect contains any flesh. It is the common knowledge that the fleshy substance between the skin and bones of animal bodies are known as flesh. Eggs do not contain any flesh. We cannot accept the proposition that an egg in due course of time shall turn out to be a bird, reptile or insect and as such it should be treated as a shell containing flesh to be. Before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, it was claimed that live animals, which is known in the Army vocabulary as ‘meat on hoof, was ‘preserved meat’, the preservation being the natural carton consisting of the skin of the animal.
The contention was accepted by the High Court, but turned down by the Supreme Court Defadar Daffadar Bhagat Singh and Sons Vs. The Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab, Patiala and Another, by observing thus: that the skin cover covering the flesh of the animal preserves its life; to think that the skin is a carton for the flesh, which can be used for food after the animal is slaughtered, goes against common sense.
