The main legal point established in the judgment is the proper classification of goods for sales tax purposes under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, and the application of the principle that the latter entry will get priority and preference if an item comes under two entries.

The proper classification of nylon fishing nets for purposes of sales tax under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) is the common question involved in these cases. The competition is between Entry 7 of Such. Ill readings:

7. Cotton fabrics, woolen fabrics and rayon or artificial silk fabrics as defined in item Nos. 19,21 and 22 respectively of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944." And Entry 100 of the First Schedule reading: "100. Bonded fibre fabrics other than those made of coir."

2. The petitioners are dealers in Nylon fishnets. The Government issued an order invoking S.59-A of the Act, on 21-10-1985. It took the view that the nylon nets will come under Entry 100. The reasoning in the order reads:

"Government have examined the question in detail. It is seen that nylon nets are manufactured out of nylon twines by the process of weaving. Being a woven stuff, these nets are to be correctly classified as' fabrics'. Twine is a product obtained by twisting two or more nylon fibers and hence it can be classified as bonded fibre".

3. Fishing has been an adventurous avocation of man with whom a gurgling stream, a placid river, brackish backwaters or the boundless seas was in direct contact. Some like the aborigenees of andamans had such skill and accuracy as to get at the targeted fish by their bows and arrows. Angling was another method. 'Line, hook and sink' is a famous and familiar phrase even for those who have not read the 'Perfect Angler'. Nets were more advantageous. Easier manipulation and larger collection were distinct advantages. Law borrowed very many concepts from the fishing field. Judicial Tribunals, in seisin of taxation problems, sometimes noted how the minor fries were caught while the larger sharks splashed and broke the nets. A reckless adventurer was referred to as one who fished in troubled waters. A shady deal was synonymous with a fishy transaction. The nets of olden days were essentially made of cotton or other fibre twines.

4. As in many other fields, technological innovations brought about revolutionary' changes in the industries and implements. Fishing nets were no exception. The change is attributable to the emergence of polymers. Caxton's Encyclopaedia gives a concise account of it. The material portion relevant for the consideration of the issue in the case may be extracted as follows:

"One of the best known and most widely used synthetic or non-cellulose man-made

Fibres. Nylon is a generic name forpotyamide fibres Nylon yarns have comparatively low moisture absorption and therefore dry with unusual rapidity, thus giving rise to 'drip-dry' shirts, etc. Nvton yarn is also used for the manufacture of knitwear, stockings and tights, shirts, linen, fabrics, and soft furnishings. The yarn, which has twice and tensile strength of aluminums wire of the same size, is used in parachutes and ropes of all sorts, fishing lines and nets, and tyre cords" (Emphasis supplied)

Mark the sentence indicating the use of nylon for the specific purpose of manufacture of fishnets. There could not be any doubt then that the nylon fibres do directly go into the manufacture of the nylon fishnets. While dealing with fishing nets also, the switch over to nylon fabrics from the traditional cotton and fibre fabrics, has been noted. The following sentences from the same Encyclopaedia would make the idea clearer:

"The usual line material in all these types of sea fishing is nylon monofilament or braided Terylene, from 20 to 40 pound strain, depending on the variety and size of 'the fish to be caught"

"Several kinds of netting are used and at the end of the trawl is a bag, the cod-end, in which the fish are finally retained. Since only the large fish are saleable, the mesh is standardized at 80 mm. Seine nets and drift nets are both long walls of netting, weighted at the bottom and buoyed by cork or glass floats at the top; drift nets are floated across the path of a sh