Watery coconut outside entry tax net where the taxing schedule covers copra but not tender coconuts.

Watery coconut is not covered by the Schedule II entry taxing "coconut, described as copra excluding tender coconuts" under the Madhya Pradesh entry tax law. The taxing provision applies only to goods specifically specified in Schedule II, and the department had to show that watery coconut was in substance copra. Because watery coconut was neither expressly included nor established to be copra, the tax entry did not extend to it. The commodity therefore falls outside entry 5(viii), and entry tax cannot be imposed on that basis.

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Issues: Whether watery coconut is covered by entry 5(viii) of Schedule II of the Madhya Pradesh Sthaniya Kshetra Me Mal Ke Pravesh Par Kar Adhiniyam, 1976 so as to attract entry tax.

Analysis: Section 6(1) levies entry tax only on goods specified in Schedule II. Entry 5(viii) covers coconut, described as copra excluding tender coconuts. The Court held that watery coconut is not specifically included in that entry and is not shown to be copra. The burden lay on the department to establish that watery coconut was in substance copra and therefore taxable. Reliance was placed on the principle that commodities may be commercially distinct and on the requirement that tax entries must clearly cover the goods sought to be taxed.

Conclusion: Watery coconut is not liable to entry tax under entry 5(viii) of Schedule II and the question was answered in the negative, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A commodity can be subjected to entry tax only if it clearly falls within the taxable entry, and where the entry covers copra excluding tender coconuts, watery coconut cannot be taxed unless it is shown to be copra in substance.

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