Specific entry prevails over residuary entry in tax classification of salt cake; matter remitted for fresh consideration.

Section 70 required the Commissioner to determine the tax rate on salt cake by examining the relevant specific Schedule entries first, and the residuary entry could be used only as a last resort. Because the impugned order treated salt cake as outside the salt entry without considering whether it fit any other specific entry, the classification was inconsistent with the statutory scheme and the principle that a specific entry prevails over a residuary one. The residuary classification was quashed and the matter was remitted for fresh consideration.

---

---

Issues: Whether, in determining the rate of tax on salt cake under section 70 of the Madhya Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2002, the Commissioner could straightaway place the goods in the residuary entry without first examining whether they fell within any specific entry in the Schedule.

Analysis: Section 70 requires the Commissioner to determine the rate of tax on the goods in question on the basis of the relevant entries under the Act. A residuary entry can be invoked only after a proper examination shows that the goods do not fit within any specific entry. The impugned order proceeded only on the footing that salt cake was not covered by the entry for salt and did not consider whether it could fall under other relevant entries in the Schedule. The approach was inconsistent with the statutory scheme and with the settled principle that a specific entry must be preferred over a residuary entry, which is to be used only as a last resort.

Conclusion: The classification of salt cake under the residuary entry could not be sustained. The impugned order was quashed and the matter was remitted to the Commissioner for fresh consideration.

---