Ordinary meaning of 'motor vehicle' excludes agricultural tractors, keeping tractor spare parts outside the enhanced tax entry.

The Punjab High Court stated that availability of an alternative statutory appeal does not bar writ relief where the remedy would be futile or illusory, so the writ petition remained maintainable. It further held that the expression "motor vehicle" in the sales tax schedule must be construed in its ordinary and popular sense, and a tractor used as an agricultural implement is not a motor vehicle for that entry. On that basis, tractor spare parts were also outside the enhanced rate applicable to motor-vehicle parts, and the assessment orders were treated as unsustainable.

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Issues: (i) whether the writ petition was barred because the petitioner had not exhausted the statutory appellate remedy under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act; (ii) whether a tractor and its spare parts fell within the expression "motor vehicles" in item (1) of Schedule A to the Punjab General Sales Tax Act so as to attract the enhanced rate of tax.

Issue (i): whether the writ petition was barred because the petitioner had not exhausted the statutory appellate remedy under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: The existence of an alternative remedy does not bar writ relief where the appellate remedy is shown to be futile or illusory. The departmental stand had already been communicated against the assessee's contention, so an appeal would have been an empty formality.

Conclusion: The preliminary objection was overruled and the writ petition was maintainable.

Issue (ii): whether a tractor and its spare parts fell within the expression "motor vehicles" in item (1) of Schedule A to the Punjab General Sales Tax Act so as to attract the enhanced rate of tax.

Analysis: The expression "motor vehicle" in the sales tax entry had to be understood in its ordinary and popular sense. A tractor is primarily an agricultural implement used for agricultural operations and not a conveyance for carrying persons or goods. The Court declined to import the definition from the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, because the two statutes served different purposes. It was also significant that the Government had separately provided a fixed levy on tractors, indicating that tractors were treated as distinct from motor vehicles in the taxing schedule.

Conclusion: A tractor is not a "motor vehicle" within item (1) of Schedule A, and its spare parts were not liable to the enhanced rate of tax as motor-vehicle spare parts.

Final Conclusion: The impugned assessment orders were unsustainable and were set aside, with directions for fresh proceedings in accordance with the legal position declared by the Court.

Ratio Decidendi: A taxing entry using the expression "motor vehicle" must be construed in its ordinary commercial sense, and an agricultural tractor used for field operations is not included unless the statute clearly says so.

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