Declared goods and state tax jurisdiction: PVC rexine cloth treated as cotton fabrics, barring turnover tax under state law.

P.V.C. rexine cloth was held to fall within the amended statutory expression "cotton fabrics" because the definition covered fabrics manufactured wholly or partly from cotton and fabrics coated with artificial plastic materials. As cotton fabrics were treated as declared goods and excluded from the Fourth Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, the turnover of such goods could not be brought to tax under the proposed assessment. The inclusion of that turnover was therefore without jurisdiction, and the challenge succeeded.

---

---

Issues: Whether P.V.C. rexine cloth fell within the expression "cotton fabrics" after the amendment to item 19 of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, and, if so, whether the proposed assessment of its turnover under the Karnataka Sales Tax Act was without jurisdiction.

Analysis: The definition of "cotton fabrics" after the amendment was taken to include fabrics manufactured wholly or partly from cotton and fabrics impregnated or coated with preparations of artificial plastic materials. On that construction, P.V.C. rexine cloth, being cloth-based material coated with polyvinyl chloride, fell within the statutory description. Since cotton fabrics were treated as declared goods and were not covered by the Fourth Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, the turnover relating to such goods could not be brought to tax under the proposed assessment.

Conclusion: The inclusion of the turnover of P.V.C. rexine cloth in the proposed assessment was without jurisdiction, and the challenge succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a commodity falls within the statutory definition of declared goods and is excluded from the State schedule, its turnover cannot be taxed under the State sales tax law contrary to that statutory scheme.

---