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TMI Blog2000 (1) TMI 952X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is submitted that tarpaulin being one of the goods of special importance (declared goods), levy of tax thereon and at the rate prescribed cannot be maintained. The Revenue's stand, on the other hand, is that tarpaulin is liable to be taxed as unclassified item at multi-point up to 1983-84, and thereafter as an item classified under the First Schedule at first point inside the State. From July 1, 1987 to March 31, 1992, it was covered by item No. 152 and from April 1, 1992, it is covered by item No. 106. 3.. The only question that, therefore, needs adjudication is whether sale of tarpaulin is exigible to tax. For answering this question, it would be proper to take note of legislative history of a few items in Schedules I and III. There was no specific entry for tarpaulin till March 31, 1984. It was classified as a separate item under item No. 100C of the First Schedule, taxable at 8 per cent at point of first sale in the State with effect from April 1, 1984. The said position continued till June 30, 1987. The item was re-numbered as 152 with effect from July 1, 1987 and read "PVC cloth, water-proof cloth, rexine and their products and tarpaulin". The rate continued to be 8 per cen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . 51.06, 51.07, 58.01 and 58.06 of the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 (Central Act 5 of 1986). Excluding PVC cloth, rexine and water-proof cloth on which duty is not levied under the Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957 (Central Act 58 of 1957)." Item No. 19 (dealing with cotton fabrics) of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 (in short "the Central Excise Act") is extracted below: "19. 'Cotton fabrics' means all varieties of fabrics manufactured either wholly or partly from cotton and includes dhoties, sarees, chadders, bed-sheets, bed-spreads, counterpanes, table-cloths, embroidery in the piece, in strips or in motifs and fabrics impregnated or coated with preparations of cellulose derivatives or of other artificial plastic materials but does not include any such fabric if it contains- (i) 40 per cent or more by weight of wool; (ii) 40 per cent or more by weight of silk; (iii) 60 per cent or more by weight of rayon or artificial silk; or (iv) 50 per cent or more by weight of jute (including Bimlipatam jute or mesta fibre): Provided that in the case of embroidery in the piece, in strips or in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... asimhan [1976] 1 SCR 6; Bajya v. Gopikabai [1978] 3 SCR 561; Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. v. Union of India [1979] 2 SCR 1038 and Western Coalfields Ltd. v. Special Area Development Authority [1982] 2 SCR 1. It is unnecessary to make a detailed reference to these decisions. It is sufficient to say that they draw a distinction between referential legislation which merely contains a "reference to, or citation of", a provision of another statute and a piece of referential legislation which incorporates within itself a provision of another statute. In the former case, the provision of the second statute, along with all its amendments and variations from time to time, should be read into the first statute. In the latter case, the position will be as outlined in Narasimhan's case [1976] 1 SCR 6, where, after referring to Secretary of State v. Hindustan Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd. case AIR 1931 PC 149; (1931) 58 IA 259, apex Court summed up the position thus: "On a consideration of these authorities, therefore, it seems that the following proposition emerges: Where a subsequent Act incorporates provisions of a previous Act, then the borrowed provisions become an integral and ind ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ally permissible and cannot be faulted. 8.. If there are two entries, one general and the other specific, the ordinary rule of construction that a general entry must give way to a specific entry is to be followed. The authority is to see that if two entries are apparently in conflict with one another, an attempt must be made to construe them harmoniously and not to treat them repugnant each other. A commodity falling under the general entry as also a specific entry has to be taxed in terms of special entry as the same is to prevail over the general entry. That itself is sufficient to reject the stand of the assessee. 9.. It is submitted that tarpaulin being one of the goods of special importance covered by Central Excise Act and the additional levy of sales tax is unauthorised. Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957 (in short, "the Additional Excise Act"). 10.. The residual limb of the question concerns the levy of tax on tarpaulin, it being claimed to be one of the declared goods. Article 286 of the Constitution of India imposed certain restrictions on the legislative powers of the States in the matter of levy of sales tax on sales taking place outside th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oceeds thereof among the States in pursuance of the principles of distribution recommended by the Second Finance Commission in its report dated September 30, 1957. This proposal to levy additional duties of excise on certain special goods was a part and parcel of an integrated scheme under which sales tax levied at different rates by the States on certain goods was ultimately substituted by the levy of additional duties of excise on such goods and the States were compensated by payment of a part of the net proceeds of the said additional levy on such goods. That this clearly was the genesis and object of the 1957 Act also appears from its Objects and Reasons. Some of the items liable to excise duty were picked out from the Schedule to the Central Excise Act. They were listed among the declared goods of section 14 of the Central Act and also made liable to additional excise duty under the Additional Excise Act. A perusal of the lists under the three enactments shows that out of the items listed in the Schedule to the Central Excise Act, sugar, tobacco, cotton fabrics, rayon or artificial fabrics and woollen fabrics were categorised as declared goods and subjected to additional excis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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