1996 (11) TMI 66 - SUPREME COURT

Whether mono vertical crystallisers are `goods' upon which excise duty under the provisions of the Act can be levied?

Held that:- Where the assembly and erection was done by the customer, there was no occasion for it to send to the appellants a debit note. The fact that there was no debit note in respect of one customer could not reasonably have led the Tribunal to conclude that in the case of that customer a complete mono vertical crystalliser had left the appellants' factory and that, therefore, mono vertical crystallisers were marketable. The Tribunal ought to have remembered that the record showed that mono vertical crystallisers had, apart from assembly, to be erected and attached by foundations to the earth and, therefore, were not, in any event marketable as they were.

Having regard to the material on record, we come to the conclusion that mono vertical crystallisers are not `goods' within the meaning of the Act and therefore, not exigible to excise duty. In favour of assessee.