Classification of diesel engine pumping sets shifted from agricultural implements to machinery after the later notification took effect.

Diesel engine pumping sets were treated as agricultural implements up to 6 September 1981 because the relevant exclusion initially covered only water pumps and the retrospective amendment did not specifically move pumping sets into the machinery entry. From 7 September 1981, a specific notification brought pumping sets within the machinery classification, changing the tax treatment prospectively. The later Supreme Court decision in the assessee's own case, which distinguished pumping sets from water pumps, was treated as binding where two equal-strength Supreme Court rulings appear to conflict. The result was agricultural-implement classification for the earlier period and machinery classification thereafter.

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Issues: Whether diesel engine pumping sets were taxable as agricultural implements up to 6 September 1981 and as machinery thereafter, and whether the later Supreme Court decision on the same commodity governed the classification.

Analysis: The relevant notifications and the retrospective amendment showed that the exclusion from agricultural implements initially applied only to water pumps, while pumping sets were not specifically brought within the machinery entry until the later notification effective from 7 September 1981. The later Supreme Court decision in the assessee's own case treated pumping sets and water pumps as distinct commodities and held that the retrospective amendment did not take pumping sets out of the agricultural-implements entry. Where two Supreme Court decisions of equal strength appear to conflict, the later decision is binding. On that basis, diesel engine pumping sets remained agricultural implements for the period up to 6 September 1981, but from 7 September 1981 they fell within the machinery entry by reason of the specific amendment.

Conclusion: The classification was accepted as agricultural implement up to 6 September 1981 and as machinery from 7 September 1981 onwards, with the revisions disposed of accordingly.

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