Oil Vanaspati - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition oil-vanaspati

Definition :

Oil vanaspati, vanaspati, is essentially an oil al-though it is a different kind of oil than that oil (be it rapeseed oil, cotton-seed oil, ground-nut oil, soya bean oil or any other oil) which forms its basic ingredient. Oil will remain oil if it retains its essential properties and merely because it has been subjected to certain processes would not convert it into a different substance. The word 'oil' is not defined in the Act and therefore, its dictionary meaning may well be pressed into service for interpreting the term 'oil mill'. According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1966 Edn.) the word 'oil' has different connotations in different situations but in the context of item 5 aforesaid the meaning to be given to would be: Any of various substances that typically are unctuous viscous combustible liquids or solids easily liquefiable on warming and are not miscible with water but are soluble in ether, naphtha, and often alcohol and other organic solvents, that leave a greasy not necessarily permanent stain (as on paper or cloth), that may be of animal, vegetable, mineral, or synthetic origin, and that are used according to their types chiefly as lubricants, fuels and illuminants, as food, in soap and candles, and in perfumes and flavoring materials. Even ghee, for that matter, is nothing but a form of oil although it is obtained from animal fat, being a drivative from milk. It may be of use to mention that in Persian language ghee is known as 'raughan zard', i.e., yellow oil, and it does not need an expert to point out that the viscosity of ghee depends upon the weather because with the rising temperature during summer months it turns into a liquid while the cold of December and January solidifies it. Nonetheless it remains an oil and it makes no difference that it is called ghee in ordinary parlance, Champaklal H. Thakkar v. State of Gujarat, AIR 1980 SC 1889 (1891): (1980) 4 SCC 329: (1981) 1 SCR 440. (Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Sch. Part I items)