Raw silk exemption covers pierced cocoons used as silk-manufacturing material, so tax exemption applied.

Pierced cocoons were held to fall within entry 38-A of the Fifth Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act as "raw silk" and were therefore exempt from tax. The Court treated raw silk as silk in a natural or semi-manufactured state capable of use in silk manufacture, and found that pierced cocoons are cocoon shells from which the moth has emerged but remain raw material for producing spun silk. As they were not confined to the separate cocoon entry, the exemption applied and the State's revision petitions failed.

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Issues: Whether pierced cocoons fall within entry 38-A of the Fifth Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957 and are therefore exempt from tax.

Analysis: The relevant schedule exempted "raw silk, thrown silk or twisted silk", while pierced cocoons did not fall under the separate entry for silkworm cocoons sold by cocoon rearers. On the material placed before the Court, pierced cocoons were shown to be cocoon shells from which the moth had emerged and, though not capable of reeling into continuous filament, they were used as raw material for producing spun silk. The Court treated "raw silk" as covering material in a natural or semi-manufactured state capable of use in manufacture, and held that silk in its raw form remained in the cocoon whether pierced or not.

Conclusion: Pierced cocoons fall within entry 38-A as raw silk and are exempt from tax. The revision petitions filed by the State fail.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purpose of the exemption entry, "raw silk" includes cocoons in their raw or semi-manufactured state when they constitute the raw material for silk manufacture, even if they are pierced cocoons.

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