Taxing entry interpretation: gas stoves were outside the unamended schedule entry and taxed only at the multi-point rate.

Gas stoves were held outside Entry 123 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 during the relevant assessment year because the unamended entry covered pressure cookers, pressure stoves, gas ovens and related parts, but did not specifically include gas stoves. Applying the commercial and popular meaning of the entry, the Court treated the later amendment inserting gas stoves from 1 April 1987 as confirming that the earlier provision did not extend to that commodity. The revision restoring the higher assessment was therefore unsustainable, and the goods remained taxable only at multi-point rate rather than single-point tax under the entry.

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Issues: Whether gas stoves sold by the assessee fell within Entry 123 of the First Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 and were liable to single-point tax at 8% for the relevant assessment year, or were taxable only at multi-point at 4%.

Analysis: Entry 123, as it stood during the relevant assessment year, covered pressure cookers, pressure stoves, gas ovens and parts and accessories thereof, but did not specifically mention gas stoves. The later amendment introducing gas stoves into the entry from 1 April 1987 was treated as significant for understanding the legislative position. The Court applied the commercial and popular meaning of the words used in the entry and held that the absence of gas stoves from the unamended entry showed that such goods were not originally intended to be taxed under that single-point provision. The revision under section 34 restoring the higher assessment was therefore unsustainable.

Conclusion: Gas stoves were not covered by Entry 123 during the relevant assessment year and were liable only to multi-point tax at 4%, not single-point tax at 8%; the assessee succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: A commodity not specifically included in a taxing entry cannot be brought within it by broad construction, and a later amendment expanding the entry may confirm that the earlier entry did not cover the omitted commodity.

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