Specific taxing entry prevails over general fertilizer exemption in sales tax classification of bone-meal and crushed bone.

Bone-meal and crushed bone were treated as taxable under the specific entries covering bones, powdered bones, horns and hoofs in the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, so the general exemption for fertilizers did not apply. The taxing and exemption entries had to be read harmoniously, but the specific taxing provision prevailed over any ordinary description of the goods as fertilizer. A definition of "fertilizer" in the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1957 could not control classification under the Sales Tax Act, so no separate analysis under that Order was required for tax assessment.

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Issues: (i) Whether bone-meal or crushed bone was taxable under entry No. 11 of Part III of Schedule II read with entry No. 2 of Schedule III of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, or exempt under entry No. 22 of Schedule I of that Act. (ii) Whether it was necessary to analyse crushed bone or bone-meal to determine whether it satisfied the standards in the Schedule appended to the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1957.

Issue (i): Whether bone-meal or crushed bone was taxable under entry No. 11 of Part III of Schedule II read with entry No. 2 of Schedule III of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, or exempt under entry No. 22 of Schedule I of that Act.

Analysis: The statutory scheme treated fertilizers other than oil-cakes as exempt under Schedule I, but separately and specifically brought "bones of animals including powdered bones, horns and hoofs" within the taxing entries of Schedule II and Schedule III. The entries had to be read together and harmoniously. On that construction, even if crushed bone or bone-meal could be described as fertilizer in ordinary parlance, the specific taxable entry prevailed and the exemption did not apply.

Conclusion: Bone-meal and crushed bone were taxable under the relevant taxing entries and were not exempt under Schedule I.

Issue (ii): Whether it was necessary to analyse crushed bone or bone-meal to determine whether it satisfied the standards in the Schedule appended to the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1957.

Analysis: A definition clause in one statute or statutory order cannot control the meaning of words used in a different enactment dealing with a different subject and object. The definition of "fertilizer" in the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1957 was therefore irrelevant to the construction of the sales tax entries, and no analytical test under that Order was required for assessment under the Sales Tax Act.

Conclusion: No such analysis was necessary, and the Tribunal was ? necessary to avoid Hindi; better: the Tribunal was wrong in remanding the matter on that basis.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered against the assessee, the taxable entry controlled over the claimed exemption, and the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1957 could not be used to rewrite the sales tax classification.

Ratio Decidendi: A specific taxing entry in the same statute prevails over a general exemption when the entries are read harmoniously, and a definition in a separate statutory instrument cannot be imported to construe the sales tax statute.

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