Support materials in electrical installations are not accessories of electrical equipment; clamps and channels stayed outside the higher tax rate.

Goods used only as supporting materials in an electrical installation do not become accessories of electrical equipment or plant merely because they are used in the electricity system. Clamps and channels supplied to the electricity department were therefore outside serial No. 7-A of Notification No. ST-7096/X-1012 of 1965, which applied to electrical equipment, plants and their accessories required for generation, distribution and transmission of electrical energy. The goods were treated as support materials for electric wires on poles, and channels were also covered by the relevant steel-structurals entry. They were not liable to tax at 7 per cent under the notification, and the lower rate applied by the Tribunal was upheld.

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Issues: Whether clamps and channels supplied to the electricity department fell within serial No. 7-A of Notification No. ST-7096/X-1012 of 1965 as accessories required for generation, distribution and transmission of electrical energy, and were therefore taxable at 7 per cent, or were liable only at the lower rate applied by the Tribunal.

Analysis: Serial No. 7-A covered electrical equipment, plants and their accessories required for generation, distribution and transmission of electrical energy. The decisive question was whether the goods themselves were accessories of electrical equipment or plant, or merely items used for support of electrical wires on electric poles. The Court held that support materials do not become accessories merely because they are used in the electricity system. On the same reasoning, clamps and channels used for supporting electric wires on poles could not be treated as accessories of electrical equipment or plant. The Court also noted that channels were covered by the relevant steel-structurals entry and could not be taxed at the higher rate under the notification.

Conclusion: Clamps and channels were not covered by serial No. 7-A as accessories of electrical equipment or plant and were not exigible to tax at 7 per cent; the Tribunal's view applying the lower rate was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Goods used only as supporting materials in an electrical installation do not become accessories of electrical equipment or plant merely by reason of their user in the electricity system.

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