Specific tariff entry for coal governs coal ash classification, excluding residuary rate treatment under the sales tax schedule.

Coal ash (cinders) sold by the assessee was classified under the specific entry covering coal, including coke in all its forms, rather than under the residuary schedule entry. The common parlance meaning of the statutory description was applied, and the broader words "in all its forms" were read to include coal ash. The Court distinguished authorities dealing with unserviceable stores and with whether coal ash was a separate commodity, holding those cases did not govern rate classification where a specific entry already applied. The operative result was that the applicable sales tax rate was 4% under the specific entry, not 12% under the residuary entry.

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Issues: Whether coal ash (cinders) sold by the assessee was exigible to sales tax at 4% under entry 1 of Part IV of Schedule II of the M. P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958, or at 12% under the residuary entry in Part VI of Schedule II.

Analysis: The relevant entry covered coal including coke in all its forms but excluding charcoal. The expression "in all its forms" was construed broadly in the earlier decisions relied upon by the Court, and the common parlance approach was applied to the description of coal. The Court distinguished the Full Bench decision in Hukumchand Mills, noting that it dealt with taxability of unserviceable stores after the amended definition of business and not with the rate of tax on coal ash. The Court also distinguished the Andhra Pradesh decisions relied upon by the Revenue because those cases concerned whether coal ash was taxable as a separate commodity, not the rate applicable where the commodity was already covered by a specific entry. Since a specific entry prevails over a residuary entry, the Revenue could not shift the commodity to Part VI for rate purposes.

Conclusion: Coal ash was held to fall within entry 1 of Part IV of Schedule II, and the applicable rate of sales tax was 4%, not 12%.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a commodity is covered by a specific tariff or schedule entry, the rate of tax must be determined under that entry and not under a residuary entry; the common parlance meaning of the statutory description governs classification.

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