Specific taxable entry prevails over general exemption: tarpaulin treated as liable to tax under the State schedule.

Tarpaulin was treated as falling under specific taxable entries in the Kerala General Sales Tax Act rather than within the general exemption for cotton fabrics in the Third Schedule. The incorporated reference to cotton fabrics under the excise laws was read as part of the State Schedule, but the specific treatment of tarpaulin in the First Schedule, including later entries covering PVC cloth, water-proof cloth and rexine, prevailed over the broader exemption description. The withdrawn exemption notification and the later statutory scheme were read as showing an intention to tax tarpaulin at the prescribed rates. The article states that the declared goods argument did not displace the specific State entries.

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Issues: Whether tarpaulin was exempt from sales tax as cotton fabrics under the Third Schedule to the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, or was taxable under the specific entries in the First Schedule.

Analysis: The exemption entries in the Third Schedule referred to cotton fabrics as defined in the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 and the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. That reference was treated as incorporation for the purpose of the State Schedule, and the Court examined the scope of the incorporated definition. Tarpaulin was separately introduced in the First Schedule and, over time, was expressly covered by specific entries along with PVC cloth, water-proof cloth and rexine. Where a commodity answers both a general exemption description and a specific taxable entry, the specific entry governs. The earlier exemption notification under section 10 had also been withdrawn, and the later statutory entries clearly indicated an intention to tax tarpaulin at the prescribed rates. The argument based on declared goods was not accepted as a ground to displace the specific State entries in this revision.

Conclusion: Tarpaulin was not exempt as cotton fabrics and was liable to tax under the specific entries in the First Schedule; the revisions failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A commodity covered by a specific taxable entry cannot claim exemption under a general incorporated description, and a later specific entry prevails over a broader exemption entry.

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