Hosiery classification for knitted gloves excludes ready-made goods treatment under the sales tax notification.

Gloves made of hosiery cloth or cotton cloth were analysed for classification under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959. The court read "ready-made goods" narrowly, confining it to garments or similar finished wear, and held that mere saleability without further labour did not make the gloves ready-made goods. It gave "hosiery" a broader commercial meaning to include knitwear and knitted articles for body parts, and treated the gloves as hosiery goods. On that basis, the gloves fell under entry 86 of the First Schedule and did not qualify for concessional treatment under the notification.

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Issues: Whether gloves made of hosiery cloth or cotton cloth are classifiable as ready-made goods entitled to the concessional treatment under the notification issued under section 17 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, or as hosiery goods falling under entry 86 of the First Schedule to the Act.

Analysis: The gloves were knit and became saleable without further labour, but that did not make them ready-made goods in the sense urged. The expression ready-made goods was held to be confined to articles which can properly be described as garments or similar finished wear, and not to all manufactured taxable goods. The expression hosiery was given a wider meaning to include knit-wears and other knitted articles for portions of the body. On that understanding, gloves made of cloth and knit for sale were treated as hosiery goods. The cited authorities were relied on only to support the broader meaning of hosiery.

Conclusion: The gloves fell under entry 86 of the First Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 and did not qualify as ready-made goods under the notification.

Ratio Decidendi: Knit articles intended for wear may be treated as hosiery goods where the statutory context shows a wider commercial meaning, and they do not become ready-made goods merely because they are saleable without further processing.

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