Product classification of laminated decorative sheets turned on paper-based composition, not resin use, under the sales tax schedule.

Product classification turned on whether the goods were paper-based laminated decorative sheets or plywood-based goods. The decisive factor was the true composition of the sample, and a scientific report from the Joint Director of Industries and Commerce identified the exhibits as laminated paper falling within Part C, Sl. No. 44(v). The argument that the use of resin instead of gum necessarily made the product plywood-based was rejected because the entry did not treat a hard paper-based product as plywood merely on that basis. The product was therefore classified under Sl. No. 44(v) of Part C and taxed at 5 per cent rather than under Entry 13(i) at 12 per cent.

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Issues: Whether the product sold by the assessee was paper-based laminated decorative sheets classifiable under Sl. No. 44(v) of Part C of the First Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, or plywood-based goods taxable under Entry 13(i) of Part E of the First Schedule.

Analysis: The product classification turned on the true composition of the sample. A scientific report obtained from the Joint Director of Industries and Commerce identified the exhibits as laminated paper and placed them within Part C, Sl. No. 44(v). The reasoning that the use of resin rather than gum necessarily made the product plywood-based was rejected, since the decisive question was whether the product was paper-based or plywood-based. The entry itself did not provide that a hard paper-based product would cease to fall under the paper entry and become plywood-based.

Conclusion: The product was held to fall under Sl. No. 44(v) of Part C and to be taxable at 5 per cent, not under Entry 13(i) at 12 per cent.

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