Purchase tax computation under Schedule E stays at the statutory aggregate rate despite a general sales tax exemption notification.

Section 14(2A) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 required purchase tax on Schedule E goods to be computed at the aggregate of the rates in columns 3 and 4. A notification under section 41(1) exempting general sales tax did not alter that statutory rate, reduce the purchase-tax levy, or treat column 4 as nil. The power to reduce tax rate lay under section 17, and no such notification was shown. The plain wording of section 14(2A) therefore controlled computation, and the exemption notification could not be used to rewrite the Schedule.

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Issues: Whether the rate of purchase tax under section 14(2A) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, for goods covered by Schedule E had to be computed at the aggregate of the rates in columns 3 and 4, or whether a notification exempting general sales tax under section 41(1) required column 4 to be treated as nil for that purpose.

Analysis: Liability to purchase tax arose under section 14(1) when the certificate conditions were breached, while section 14(2A) separately prescribed the rate of purchase tax as the aggregate of the rates shown in columns 3 and 4 of Schedule E. A notification under section 41(1) granted exemption from payment of general sales tax, but it did not alter the statutory rate, reduce the purchase-tax levy, or amend the Schedule. The power to reduce the rate of tax lay under section 17, and no notification under that provision was shown. The plain wording of section 14(2A) therefore controlled computation of purchase tax, and the exemption notification could not be imported to rewrite the rate in Schedule E.

Conclusion: The rate of purchase tax remained the aggregate of the rates in columns 3 and 4 of Schedule E, and the exemption notification did not make column 4 nil; the question was answered against the assessee and in favour of the department.

Final Conclusion: The reference was disposed of by holding that exemption from general sales tax did not affect the statutory computation of purchase tax under section 14(2A).

Ratio Decidendi: A notification granting exemption from payment of tax does not, by itself, alter the statutory rate prescribed for a different levy unless the statute expressly confers power to reduce or amend that rate.

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