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TMI Blog1967 (10) TMI 49X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he opinion that the textile machinery fell under entry 41 of the First Schedule to the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1959, as amended by Madras Act XV of 1964 and that the concerned turnover should be assessed at the single point rate of 6 per cent. The petitioners' contention in both these writ petitions is that entry 41 refers only to electrical machinery, but the textile machinery which the petitioners sold is not electrical machinery and therefore could not be assessed at the higher single point rate mentioned in entry 41. The view of the department, as set out in their counter-affidavit was that while entry 41, as it stood before the amendment made by Madras Act XV of 1964, did not make any reference to machinery, the entry was deliber ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... refer only to electrical machinery and not to machinery of any kind, irrespective of the part which electricity plays in its user, and further it should conform to the broad conception of electrical goods as distinguished from other goods. To make this point clear, a reference can be made to entry 41, as it stood before the amendment and as it stands after the amendment. Before amendment it read: "All electrical goods, instruments, apparatus, appliances and all such articles, the use of which cannot be had except with the application of electrical energy; including fans, lighting bulbs, electrical earthenwares and porcelain and all other accessories and component parts, either sold as a whole or in parts." After the amendment, it rea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gy. Nevertheless, the High Court held that "on a prima facie view, even a lathe when driven by electric power is not electrical goods and the test would be still to find whether a particular machinery falls within the broad conception of electrical goods to which the entry was intended to relate." No doubt at the time when the High Court gave the above interpretation to the entry, the word "machinery" was not interpolated between "electrical goods" and "instruments". The question now for consideration is whether such interpolation of the word "machinery" would make any alteration to the principle laid down by the High Court in the above decision for interpreting the entry as a whole. The principle of ejusdem generis can be relied upon in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nded to include furnace oil which was a non-lubricant and that only lubricant oils were intended to be included in that entry, even after the amendment. That apart, applying the ejusdem generis rule also, the same conclusion could be reached in that particular case. The Bench observed: "If two species are mentioned followed by general words, the rule of ejusdem generis may limit the sense of the general words to the species constituting a genus. But where a genus itself is mentioned followed by mention of certain species and in between is introduced general words, we think the position is a fortiori, for, sandwiched as they are, the general words will, in our opinion, take their sense and scope from the associated words preceding and foll ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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