Chemical fertiliser mixtures without organic manure fall outside Item 21, requiring reassessment of taxability and exemption

Item 21 of the First Schedule is exhaustive: sub-item (16) covers only a mixture of one or more fertilisers listed in sub-items (1) to (15) with one or more organic manures. A mixture made up of chemical fertilisers and foreign fillers, without any organic manure, does not fall within that entry. On that basis, assessability under section 3(1) and eligibility for the related exemption notification must be re-examined by reference to the actual composition of the product.

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Issues: Whether a fertiliser mixture consisting of chemical fertilisers mixed with fillers and no organic manure falls within item 21 of the First Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, and whether the assessee is entitled to exemption under the Government Order applicable to tax under section 3(1) if the goods do not fall within that item.

Analysis: Item 21 uses the expression "that is to say", which exhaustively enumerates the kinds of chemical fertilisers covered by the entry. A mixture of articles specified in sub-items (1) to (15) may, depending on its composition, be a commercially distinct product, but sub-item (16) brings within the entry only a mixture of one or more of those articles with one or more organic manures. If the mixture contains only chemical fertilisers and foreign fillers, and no organic manure, it does not answer sub-item (16) and cannot be treated as falling within item 21. On that footing, the question whether the turnover is assessable under section 3(1) and whether the exemption notification applies must be reconsidered on the actual composition of the product.

Conclusion: The mixture was not conclusively established to fall within item 21 on the material considered, and the matter required fresh examination by the Tribunal; the assessee succeeded in getting the order set aside and the matter remitted.

Ratio Decidendi: For item 21 of the First Schedule, a mixture falls within sub-item (16) only if it contains at least one article from sub-items (1) to (15) and at least one organic manure; a mixture containing only chemical fertilisers and non-organic fillers is outside that entry.

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