Specific exemption for tractor spare parts prevails over general piston entry, reducing sales tax on tractor pistons.

Tractor pistons were treated as spare parts of tractors for sales tax purposes because the later notification granted concessional tax treatment to tractors and their spare parts. A prior entry taxed pistons generally at 10 per cent, but the Court applied the settled rule that a specific and later provision prevails over a general earlier entry. On that basis, the later notification under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act governed, and tractor pistons were taxable only at 4 per cent. The assessee therefore succeeded.

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Issues: Whether tractor piston sets were taxable at 4 per cent as spare parts of tractors under the later notification, or at 10 per cent under the earlier specific entry for pistons.

Analysis: The controversy turned on the interaction between two tax entries. One notification imposed 10 per cent tax on pistons generally, while the later notification, issued under section 5(1) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, prescribed 4 per cent tax on tractors and spare parts thereof. The Court held that pistons used in tractors were spare parts of tractors and that the later notification was a special and subsequent provision intended to grant concessional treatment to tractors and their parts. Applying the settled principle that a specific entry overrides a general one, the later and more specific entry governed the transaction.

Conclusion: Tractor pistons were taxable only at 4 per cent under the later notification and not at 10 per cent under the earlier general entry; the assessee succeeded.

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