Sales tax classification of kajal and tilakam: not cosmetics under the unamended schedule, so taxed as general goods.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court noted that, for the 1982-83 assessment year, the unamended Entry 36 of the First Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 did not cover "kajal" and "tilakam" as cosmetics. Relying on its earlier decision, the Court treated those goods as falling outside the specific cosmetics entry and therefore taxable as general goods. The operative legal point is that classification depends on the scope of the entry as it stood during the relevant assessment period, and these items were not included within that description.

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Issues: Whether "kajal" and "tilakam" are cosmetics falling within entry 36 of the First Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957.

Analysis: The question arose for the assessment year 1982-83 when the unamended entry was in force. The issue was concluded by the earlier decision of the same Court, which held that entry 36, as it then stood, did not include "tilakam" and "kajal" and that those goods were liable to be treated as general goods.

Conclusion: "Kajal" and "tilakam" are not cosmetics within entry 36 and are taxable as general goods.

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