Mobile charger remains separately taxable as an accessory, not part of the handset, despite bundled sale and one MRP.

A mobile charger sold with a handset remains an accessory, not a constituent part of the cell phone, where the taxing entry covers cell phones but does not expressly include chargers. The Supreme Court's Nokia ruling was held to govern the issue, and bundled retail sale or a single MRP did not change the charger's independent character for tax purposes. Decisions under materially different VAT entries were treated as inapplicable to the pari materia scheme. The Tribunal was found to have misread the entry and the binding law, so the charger remained separately taxable and the assessee's challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether a mobile charger sold along with a cell phone is to be treated as a part of the cell phone for tax purposes under the H.P. VAT Act, 2005, and whether the Tribunal was correct in applying the Supreme Court's Nokia ruling to hold otherwise.

Analysis: The statutory entry under the H.P. VAT Act, 2005 taxed cell phones, but did not expressly include chargers or accessories. The Court held that the Supreme Court's decision in Nokia India governed the issue because it had already determined that a mobile charger is an accessory and not a constituent part of the cell phone. The Court rejected the contention that bundled retail sale or one MRP by itself converts the charger into a composite part of the phone. It also held that decisions rendered under materially different statutory entries, including those under the U.P. VAT Act and Karnataka VAT Act, did not displace the binding effect of the Supreme Court's ruling on the pari materia statutory scheme. The Court further held that the Tribunal had misread the applicable entry and the binding law, and that the charger remained independently taxable.

Conclusion: The charger is an accessory and not a part of the cell phone, and the Tribunal's contrary view was ; the assessee's challenge failed and the Revenue's position was accepted.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the taxing entry covers cell phones but does not include accessories, a mobile charger sold with a handset remains an accessory and is separately taxable, and bundled retail sale does not alter its independent character.

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