Specific tariff entry prevails for power-distribution goods; use in a works contract does not change classification.

Cables and switches used by a contractor in a works contract were held classifiable under the specific entry for plants and equipment required for exclusive use in generation, transmission or distribution of electric power. The court applied the plain language of the competing tariff entries and treated the goods' essential function as determinative, finding that use in a works contract did not change their character for classification. The residuary entry for electrical goods was construed as covering domestic appliances and similar articles, and could not override the specific power-distribution entry. The Revenue's challenge therefore failed, and the higher-rate assessment was set aside in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether cables and switches used by a contractor in execution of a works contract were classifiable under the entry for plants and equipment required for exclusive use in generation, transmission or distribution of electric power, or under the residuary entry for electrical goods.

Analysis: The competing entries had to be read by their plain language. The goods in question were capable of being treated as plants and equipment required for exclusive use in the distribution of electric power, and their use by a contractor in a works contract did not alter their essential character for classification purposes. The broader electrical-goods entry was construed as covering domestic appliances and similar articles, excluding goods falling under the specific power-distribution entry.

Conclusion: The goods were correctly classified under the specific entry for plants and equipment required for exclusive use in generation, transmission or distribution of electric power, and not under the general entry for electrical goods.

Final Conclusion: The Revenue's challenge to the tax classification failed, and the assessment applying the higher rate was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a specific tariff entry squarely covers goods by their essential function, a general residual entry for electrical goods cannot be applied merely because the goods are used in a works contract or not by a power-generating utility.

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