Industrial gas classification: carbon dioxide fell within the sales tax entry and was treated as taxable.

Carbon dioxide was held to fall within entry 121 of the Second Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957 as an industrial gas. The court held that ejusdem generis did not apply because the listed gases did not form a single genus, and the entry was not confined to combustible gases. As carbon dioxide was used in the manufacture of aerated water, it came within the scope of the entry and was taxable as an industrial gas.

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Issues: Whether carbon dioxide falls within entry 121 of the Second Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957, as an industrial gas liable to tax under the Act.

Analysis: The entry uses the expression "industrial gas" and then gives illustrative instances such as oxygen, acetylene, nitrogen and the like. The rule of ejusdem generis was held inapplicable because the named gases did not form a single genus, and in any event nitrogen is not a combustible gas. The specification of certain gases in the entry did not confine it to combustible gases only. Carbon dioxide was accepted as an industrial gas and was used in the manufacture of aerated water, bringing it within the scope of the entry.

Conclusion: Carbon dioxide falls under entry 121 of the Second Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957, and is taxable as an industrial gas. The revision was therefore dismissed.

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