TMI Blog2004 (10) TMI 411X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fect from 28-9-96 and interest under Section 11AB with effect from the same date and the penalty on the Director. 2. Briefly the facts are that the appellant-company manufactures Activated Bleaching Earth and Activated carbon. On the basis of intelligence gathered that the appellant company is clearing their product as Fullers Earth claiming NIL rate of duty, investigations were carried out. The process of manufacture involved is that Fullers Earth Lumps was crushed in Jaw Crushers and pulverized. This powder is heated to about 300 centigrade in a furnace for thermal activation and acids are added in various grades to increase the bleaching efficiency of the earth. Before thermal activation Fullers Earth is an absorbent medium and afte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that Shri V. Ramachandra Rao, Head of the Department of Metallurgical and Engineering Section, JN Government Polytechnic, Anantapur has clearly stated that Fullers Earth is a bleaching earth and is used for bleaching Fatty oils; that it can be directly used after physical dressing; that there is no need to chemically treat it and the Department has not drawn any samples of the product in question. In regard to Activated Carbon Powder, it is submitted that the appellant buys char from Sponge Iron Units, pulverizes and packs and sells of. The appellants do not have any machinery to activate the carbon. 6. The first issue pertains to whether or not the process carried out by the appellants amounts to manufacture. We have already described t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rth in its original form has absorbing characteristics after the thermal and chemical treatment if gets the characteristic being an absorbent capable of being used for decolouring, filtering etc. When Fullers Earth is crushed its superficial form undergoes a change, thus making it an activated bleaching earth. The ld. DR also points out the price differential between Fullers Earth in its raw form and its finished form as marketed. We therefore hold that the process to which Fullers Earth is subjected to amounts to manufacture and that in its modified form if falls under 3802 of Central Excise Tariff Act. 7. The appellants were found to be describing their product as Fullers Earth thereby avoiding payment of appropriate duty. The period in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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