Express exclusion in taxing notification kept woollen garments outside the ready made garments entry and sustained residual classification.

A taxing notification that covered all kinds of ready made garments expressly excluded woollen garments, so they could not be brought within the concessional entry by general similarity in use or nomenclature. Woollen garments were therefore classified as an unclassified item in the residual category. The Tribunal's limited remand was also upheld because, after the classification issue was decided against the assessee, only the factual verification of the number of woollen garments remained for the assessing authority. The revision failed, and the Revenue's position was sustained.

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Issues: (i) whether woollen garments were covered by the entry for all kinds of ready made garments or stood excluded and were taxable as an unclassified item; (ii) whether the Tribunal was justified in remanding the matter to the assessing authority for limited determination of the number of woollen garments.

Issue (i): whether woollen garments were covered by the entry for all kinds of ready made garments or stood excluded and were taxable as an unclassified item.

Analysis: The notifications governing the relevant assessment year treated all kinds of ready made garments as taxable, but expressly excluded woollen garments. The exclusion was held to be clear and decisive. Garments and hosiery may be interchangeable in a general sense, but wool is not interchangeable with cotton, nylon, or acrylic. Since woollen garments were specifically taken out of the notified entry and were not separately specified elsewhere, they could not be treated as falling within the concessional entry for ready made garments.

Conclusion: Woollen garments were held to be outside the notified entry and liable to be treated as an unclassified item. The finding was in favour of the Revenue.

Issue (ii): whether the Tribunal was justified in remanding the matter to the assessing authority for limited determination of the number of woollen garments.

Analysis: Once the legal position on classification was accepted against the assessee, the remaining factual exercise concerning the extent of woollen garments required verification by the assessing authority. The remand was therefore confined to a limited factual ascertainment and did not suffer from any legal infirmity.

Conclusion: The remand order was upheld. The finding was in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The revision failed because the exclusion of woollen garments from the relevant ready made garments entries was upheld and the Tribunal's limited remand was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing notification expressly excludes a category of goods from a concessional entry, that category cannot be brought within the entry by general similarity in nomenclature or use, and must be assessed according to the applicable residual classification if no separate inclusion exists.

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