Retrospective tax entry amendment brought agarbathis within the specific schedule entry, excluding residual unclassified taxation

Retrospective amendment of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act was applied to treat agarbathis as covered by the specific entry for "raw bathis." The later insertion of "agarbathis and other scented sticks" with retrospective effect governed the earlier period, and the amended entry was held to be constitutionally valid. On that basis, agarbathis could not be taxed as an unclassified item, and the specific schedule entry prevailed over the residual classification.

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Issues: Whether agarbathis fell within entry 80B of the First Schedule to the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, and whether they were taxable as an unclassified item.

Analysis: Entry 80B covered "raw bathis" at 10 per cent. A later amending Ordinance, replaced by an Amending Act, inserted the words "agarbathis and other scented sticks" in entry 155 with retrospective effect from 1 April 1984. The retrospective operation had already been upheld as reasonable and constitutional. In light of the amendment, the expression "raw bathis" in entry 80B was construed to include agarbathis, and the Tribunal's view that they were taxable as an unclassified item could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The issue was decided in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee; agarbathis were held to fall within entry 80B and not to be taxable as an unclassified item.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing entry is retrospectively amended to expressly include a commodity, the amended entry governs the earlier period and the commodity is taxable under the specific entry rather than as an unclassified item.

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