TMI Blog1996 (8) TMI 256X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... from the market and subjecting the same to straightening, cutting and punching before supplying the same to their customers. Such supplies have been made without paying Central Excise duty. 2. Notice was issued to the appellant in respect of the period 28-2-1986 to 14-2-1988 informing that the products referred to above are subject to excise duty as they fall under Heading 7308.90 and requiring the appellant to show cause why duty on the value of the products so cleared should not be demanded. The appellant resisted the notice contending that angles and channels when cut and punched do not cease to be angles and channels and do not become a new commodity as known in the market and as such the appellant was not manufacturing these produ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Act and others to periods subsequent to the amendment. The consistent view taken is that activity such as cutting and punching of holes in angles and channels for use in transmission towers and structures would not amount to manufacture within the meaning of Section 2(f) of the Act. 6. The Department places reliance on the entry in Heading 73.08 in the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, as the same existed in 1988; which reads thus : 73.08 : Structures (excluding prefabricated buildings of heading No. 94.06) and parts of structures (for example, bridges and bridge sections, lock-gates, towers, lattice masts, roofs, roofing frameworks, doors and windows and their frames and thresholds for doors, shutters, bal-ustrades, pillars ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The clear and consistent view of the Tribunal has been in the negative. 8. In the circumstances, as observed by the Supreme Court in Paragraph 6 of the judgment in the case of Moti Laminates Pvt. Ltd., v. Collector of Central Excise, Ahmedabad, reported in 1995 (76) E.L.T. 241 (S.C.) reference to a particular item in the Tariff Schedule is not decisive and it is always open to the assessee to prove that the particular item, inspite of being mentioned in the schedule would not be subject to duty either because it is not goods or it is not manufactured or it is not capable of being marketed. 9. The only other question which remains for consideration is whether the amendment brought about in the definition manufacture of Section 2(f) of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent is cautious and circumspect. It requires specification not of goods but of process. It requires specification of process as amounting to manufacture. It also further requires that the specification must be in relation to any goods. 10. It is in the light of the meaning and content of the amendment to the definition, as explained above, that one has to examine the language use in the Tariff Entry 73.08 since there is no relevant Chapter Note/Section Note. We have extracted Heading 73.08 which refers to structures and parts of structures. It contain exclusive clause as well as illustrative clause. Several kinds of parts and structures are brought into the heading by a device of illustration. There is also an added description like angle ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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