Statutory identity of processed goods remained unchanged, so exemption continued and entry tax was not payable.

Mere processing of hot rolled coil into cold rolled coil did not alter the statutory identity of the goods where the relevant entry covered sheets, hoops, strips and skelp in both hot and cold rolled coil form. The court held that goods do not cease to fall within a specified entry simply because they undergo processing or a change in form, thickness or condition, so long as they continue to answer the same description under the taxing schedule. The clarification denying exemption was therefore unsustainable, the exemption under section 3(2) applied, and entry tax was not leviable on the goods in the stated circumstances.

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Issues: Whether hot rolled coil, after being processed into cold rolled coil, ceased to be the same specified goods for the purpose of exemption under section 3(2) of the Assam Entry Tax Act, 2008, and whether entry tax was therefore payable.

Analysis: The statutory scheme levies entry tax on specified goods entering a local area, but exempts such goods where they are brought in for resale and are sold inside the State as taxable goods under the value added tax law. The entry at Serial No. 50(iv) of the Schedule covers sheets, hoops, strips and skelp in hot and cold rolled form, in coil form, showing that both forms remain within the same specified class of goods. Mere processing from hot rolled coil to cold rolled coil did not change the essential statutory identity of the goods. The prior decisions relied upon supported the view that a specified good does not cease to be covered merely because it undergoes processing or a change in form, so long as it remains within the scope of the relevant entry.

Conclusion: The clarification denying exemption was unsustainable. The processed cold rolled coil continued to fall within the same specified goods entry, and the petitioner was entitled to exemption under section 3(2) of the Assam Entry Tax Act, 2008.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the impugned clarification was quashed, with the consequence that entry tax was not leviable on the goods in question in the stated circumstances.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory entry describes goods in forms broad enough to include both the original and processed variants, mere processing or change in thickness or form does not take the goods outside the exemption if the goods continue to answer the same specified description under the taxing entry.

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