Restrictive interpretation of "including" in entry tax schedule keeps optical fibre and cable accessories outside taxable goods.

Entry tax under the Assam Entry Tax Act applies only to goods specified in the Schedule, and entry 4 was construed as confining "sound transmitting equipment including telephones, mobile phones, pagers and components and parts thereof" to the items expressly mentioned. The Gauhati HC treated "including" as clarificatory and restrictive, because the listed items already fell within the general class of sound transmitting equipment. On that interpretation, optical fibre, cables and accessories were outside entry 4 and not liable to entry tax, so the demands and enforcement measures were quashed.

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Issues: Whether optical fibre, cables and accessories are covered by entry 4 of the Schedule to the Assam Entry Tax Act, 2001 so as to attract entry tax, and whether the word "including" in that entry is used in an expansive or restrictive sense.

Analysis: Entry tax under Section 3 of the Assam Entry Tax Act, 2001 is leviable only on goods specified in the Schedule. Entry 4 describes "sound transmitting equipment including telephones, mobile phones, pagers and components and parts thereof". The expression was examined in context, and the Court held that the specified items themselves normally fall within the general class of sound transmitting equipment, so their express mention indicates that the legislature intended the entry to be limited to those items and their derivatives. The word "including" was therefore treated as clarificatory and restrictive, not as enlarging the entry to cover all other sound transmitting equipment. Applying that interpretation, optical fibre, cables and accessories were held not to fall within entry 4.

Conclusion: Optical fibre, cables and accessories are not taxable under entry 4, and no entry tax can be imposed on their entry into the State under the Act.

Final Conclusion: The impugned demands and withdrawal notification were quashed, and the respondents were restrained from enforcing the bank guarantee for recovery of entry tax on the goods in question.

Ratio Decidendi: The word "including" in a statutory definition may be restrictive and exhaustive where the items expressly mentioned already naturally fall within the general expression, showing an intention to confine the entry to those specified items.

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