Common parlance classification of woven fabric upheld as exempt textile, not taxable plastic product.

Synthetic woven fabric was held classifiable as an exempt textile under item 8(ii) of Part A of the Third Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, because classification turns on common commercial understanding and the goods' actual identity in trade. Woven fabric, as understood in tax law, was treated as textile, and the record, including purchase and sale bills and earlier and later assessments, supported that finding. A departmental clarification on HDPE woven fabric and monofilament tape was found inapplicable. The assessee's exemption claim was upheld and the taxable plastic product entry was rejected.

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Issues: Whether synthetic woven fabric sold by the dealer was classifiable as an exempt textile under item 8(ii) of Part A of the Third Schedule to the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, or as a taxable plastic product under item 33 of Part C of the First Schedule.

Analysis: The assessable entry had to be construed in its common commercial sense. Textile, as understood in tax law, means any woven fabric, and the character of the goods is determined by how they are known in trade and by their manufacture as woven fabric, not by a mere technical or administrative clarification. The materials on record, including purchase and sale bills and the treatment in earlier and later assessments, supported the finding that the goods were synthetic woven fabric and not the goods described in the Commissioner's clarification relating to HDPE woven fabric and monofilament tape. The clarification therefore did not govern the present classification dispute.

Conclusion: The goods were correctly held to fall under the exempt entry in item 8(ii) of Part A of the Third Schedule and not under the taxable plastic product entry.

Final Conclusion: The revision failed and the assessee's exemption claim was upheld, leaving no ground to interfere with the Tribunal's order.

Ratio Decidendi: In sales tax classification, an entry covering textiles must be construed according to common parlance, and woven fabric is taxable or exempt according to its trade understanding and actual identity rather than an inapplicable departmental clarification.

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