TMI Blog1975 (2) TMI 28X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inks. The question is whether this will attract excise duty under the Entry. For the year 1968, the Revenue, after consulting the Chemical Examiner, concluded that the particular H.R.C., Fuselinks would not fall within the scope of Entry 23B. But, on 7-11-1973, the Superintendent of Central Excise, Guiday Mixed Range, notified the petitioner that in view of the revised opinion expressed by the Chemical Examiner, they will be liable to duty. A part of the Chemical Examiner's report was cited in that communication. lt said that the sample was in the form of white hollow cylindrical piece having rough surface, that when written on by ink, the ink markings could not be easily rubbed off showing the sample was not glazed, that on breaking the sa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ay, 25% Feldspar. Because the article was in question does not conform to that composition, but contains 28% of Steatite and 20% of Zircon Silicate and also absorption capacity of 0-37%, it need not necessarily be regarded as porcelain. The Entry reads: "23-B. Chinaware and Porcelainware - All sorts. - (1) Tableware, (2) Sanitaryware, (3) Glazed tiles, (4) Not otherwise specified." The Explanation to the Entry says that Chinaware includes all glazed clayware but does not include terracotta. But we are not concerned with this in this case. "Porcelain" is defined in several publications. Indian Standard Glossary of Terms relating to Ceramicware defines procelain as a glazed or unglazed ceramic white ware having not more than 0-3% water ab ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aced by zirconium silicate and feldspar by alkali-fee fluxes. In the introduction to technical ceramics, Waye points out that Talc, another source of MgO, and commonly used in other branches of the industry, is an important constituent of cordierite and steatite ceramics. Steatite is properly the massive form of talc but the term has come to be used also for ceramics and mainly from talc. Talc was formed by the hydration of magnesium bearing rocks under pressure, and occurs in various parts of the world; the main sources for use in England are Egypt and India. Reference is also made in this book to Zirconium compounds, which occur in alluvial sands in Ceylone, Madagascar and Australia. This form of porcelain is used in electro-ceramics and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... thin certain maximums. The term vitreous generally signifies less than 0-5 per cent. absorption except for floor and wall tile and low-voltage electrical porcelain which are considered vitreous up to 3-0 per cent. water absorption. Vitrification itself signified progressive reduction in prosotity of a ceramic composition as a result of heat treatment, or the process involved. So then, the net result of these publications is that while porcelain may have as its components kaolin-chinaclay, feldspar, which contains silicon and calcium and quartz, which is mainly silicon, the variation in the proportions of each of these main elements, subject to limitations will not alter the character of the product as porcelain. The proportion may vary depe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e and includes salt. In Union of India v. Delhi Cloth and General Mills, AIR 1963 SC 791=1977 E.L.T. (J 199) it was held that goods for purposes of Central Excises and Salt Act, having regard to the definition of excisable goods and the charging section, would refer to an article which could ordinarily come to the market to be bought and sold. The petitioner says that the porcelain component of the H.R.C. fuselinks is not by itself marketable, as it is designed only to serve as a component of such fuselinks. But in the same decision, the Supreme Court pointed out that the fact that the substance produced by the manufacturer at an intermediate stage was not put in the market would not make any difference to the chargeability of the substance ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t must be a porcelainware as such. Hardly H.R.C. fuselink can be described as a porcelainware as we commonly understand the phrase. That the Legislature is famiarion with a fuselink like the one we have before us is clear from the fact that in Item No. 73 (1) of the First Schedule to the Indian Tariff Act, 1934, the article is described as follows :- "Electrical Control Gear and Transmission Gear, namely Switches (excluding switch boards), fuses and current breaking devices of allsorts and descriptions, designed for use in circuits of less than ten amperes and at a pressure not exceeding 250 volts." This is an article which will fall possibly under that Entry 73 (1). By no stretch of imagination, we can say that merely because an artic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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