Distinct commercial identity in fertiliser mixtures supports fresh sales tax levy despite prior tax on ingredients.

Fertiliser mixtures made by combining chemical fertilisers listed in item 21 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act were treated as distinct taxable goods, not the same goods as their ingredients. The Court focused on identity and commercial character rather than the mixing process itself: because the mixtures had different chemical properties, commercial identity and use, they were not exempt from fresh levy as the original fertilisers. The fact that the component fertilisers had already suffered tax did not prevent tax on the mixed product under the single-point scheme.

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Issues: Whether fertiliser mixtures prepared by mixing chemical fertilisers listed in item 21 of the First Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 are the same goods as the component fertilisers so as to qualify for exemption from fresh levy of sales tax.

Analysis: Under section 3(2) of the Act, goods specified in the First Schedule are taxable at the rate and only at the point specified for those goods. Item 21 separately enumerates chemical fertilisers and also contemplates mixtures of the enumerated articles. The decisive question was not whether the mixing process amounted to manufacture, but whether the resulting mixture retained the identity of the original fertilisers. The mixture was found to have different chemical properties, a different commercial identity and a different use from its ingredients, and therefore to be a distinct taxable commodity. The fact that the ingredients had already suffered tax did not make the mixture a second sale of the same goods.

Conclusion: The fertiliser mixtures were not the same goods as the component chemical fertilisers and were liable to tax as a different commercial product. The contention for exemption failed.

Final Conclusion: Sales tax exemption was denied because the mixed fertiliser product was treated as a distinct article from its taxed ingredients, attracting fresh levy under the single-point scheme.

Ratio Decidendi: For sales tax purposes, when distinct commercial commodities emerge from taxed ingredients, they are separately taxable goods notwithstanding that the raw materials have already suffered tax at an earlier stage.

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