Packing shooks treated as timber in cut or manufactured form under the Karnataka sales tax entry

Packing shooks cut from timber logs were treated as timber in cut or manufactured form under entry 45(b) of the Second Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, because the commercial meaning of timber extends to logs worked into planks, beams and similar sizes and shapes. The Court held that the statutory language, covering timber in cut or manufactured form of all sizes and shapes, was wide enough to include packing shooks, and the Revenue's attempt to distinguish them was rejected. The assessee therefore succeeded, and the goods were taxable at the rate applicable to timber in cut or manufactured form.

---

---

Issues: Whether packing shooks obtained by cutting timber logs fall within entry 45(b) of the Second Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act and are taxable at 2% as timber in cut or manufactured form, or at the higher rate proposed by the Revenue.

Analysis: Packing shooks were held to be nothing more than cut-size planks produced from timber logs. Timber, in its commercial sense, includes logs cut into different sizes and shapes, including planks, beams and rafters. The entry itself uses comprehensive language, covering timber in cut or manufactured form of all sizes and shapes. The Court treated the Revenue's distinction between timber and packing shooks as inconsequential, because the statutory description is wide enough to embrace such cut timber products.

Conclusion: Packing shooks fall within entry 45(b) of the Second Schedule to the Karnataka Sales Tax Act and are taxable at the rate applicable to timber in cut or manufactured form obtained from material that has already suffered tax. The assessee succeeded on the substantive issue.

---