Plastic bag classification under sales tax law: polythene bags fell under articles of plastics, not containers, with set-off allowed.

Polythene bags manufactured from plastic raw material were treated as "articles of plastics" under entry 187 of the First Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. Applying the ordinary and commonsense meaning of the tariff entries, the Court held that entry 19, which then covered containers other than gunnies and bottles, could not be stretched to cover plastic bags merely because they functioned as containers, and it also rejected classification under entry 188. On that construction, the assessee became entitled to the consequential set-off under G.O. Ms. No. 574 dated 9 June 1987, and the revision cases were allowed.

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Issues: Whether polythene bags manufactured from plastic raw material fall under entry 187 of the First Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, or under entry 19, and whether the assessee was entitled to set-off under G.O. Ms. No. 574 dated 9 June 1987.

Analysis: The classification turned on the true construction of the relevant entries in the First Schedule during the assessment years 1987-88 and 1988-89. Entry 19, as it then stood, covered containers other than gunnies and bottles, while entry 187 covered articles of plastics, including flat shapes and other specified plastic articles. The Court applied the ordinary and commonsense meaning of the words used in the tariff entry and noted that a plastic bag may be a container, but it is also an article of plastic. The expression "articles of plastics" in entry 187 was treated as having wide amplitude, and the plastic bags manufactured by the assessee were held to answer that description. The Court further held that the unamended entry 19 could not be stretched to cover plastic bags merely because they functioned as containers, and it rejected the contrary view that they fell under entry 188 or entry 19.

Conclusion: Polythene bags were held to fall under entry 187 and not under entry 19 or entry 188. The assessee was therefore entitled to the consequential set-off, and the revision cases were allowed.

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