TMI Blog1985 (12) TMI 152X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... perforated, coated, printed or packed with paper of other reinforcing material) of a thickness (excluding any backing) not exceeding 0.15 mm . 2. The item does not provid e for duty on each of the varieties of aluminium foils viz. coated, printed, perforated backed etc. It provides that the duty under that head shall be charged on the foil whether or not it is embossed, coated, printed etc. etc. Thus no factory can claim its foil was coated or was printed, or was perforated, and so was not assessable under the head foil. The words embossed, cut to shape, perforated, coated, printed do not list items of goods to be assessed individually ; they do not sanction duty from one process to another such as can be performed when a plain ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... c ribing a duty of excise for such product. The goods or product must be tested against the head description. It is allowed entry only when it finally qualifies. It can be disqualified for several reasons - one of the strongest disqualifications is that it had already paid that duty. Once this is found to be the case, there is nothing to be done but to reject its entry into that head. And, contrary to popular belief, the judgment of the Supreme Court in the DCM case, does not say that whenever a manufacture is perceived, the produced article must yield to excise, no matter whether it had paid that very same duty or not. Order No. V-Adj. (27) 15-1/79 dated 16-12-1983 of the Collector of Central Excise, Baroda is the result of that belief. It ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Supreme Court in Empire Industries Limited 1985 (20) E L.T. 179. The Court ruled that a cotton fabric, which had paid duty as grey unprinted fabric, may be charged again to duty when it is dyed or printed or processed in other ways under the same item 19I of the Central Excise Tariff. This clear ruling, said the learned counsel for the department, must reverse all other interpretations to the contrary. Even if the printed etc. foil continued to be a foil, it must pay duty again because it has undergone what is clearly a process of manufacture. 7. The Empire Industries judgment d oes not support this argument. The Supreme Court had to adjudge the dutiability of the processed fabric against the background of the amendment of Se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... use of the paramount Governmental interest in obtaining adequate revenues, but also because taxes are not in the nature of a penalty or a contractual obligation but rather a means of apportioning the costs of Government amount those who benefit from it. 10. There would not be a need for small repairs had a defect not been found; but because a defect was found and that defect was critical enough to need removal, small repairs had to be carried out. Repairs, even small ones, are not carried out except to make good defects. There was nothing wrong in this particular small repairs, ruled the Court, thus conveying its perception that they repaired a defect or a number of defects that needed repairing. And we know what the defects we ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... product regardless of whether or not the market or anybody else regarded the printing as a manufacture. Once a product qualifies for an entry or an item and had never paid duty under that entry or item, it must pay that duty. This judgment does not support the department s case in-any way. The Court explicitly ruled as in order the retrospective amendment saying that the legislature had the authority to do so. The court did not say what the department attributes to it as saying, that levy of duty on the printed etc. fabric was permissible even under the unamended law. And the legislature itself recognizing such to be the case i.e. that the old items would not permit duty on the printed fabric, brought into operation its infrequently used p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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