TMI Blog1985 (3) TMI 67X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... st the said assessments and claimed refund of excess duty. After a personal hearing, an order was passed by the Assistant Collector of Customs holding that the Periglass Sleevings are assessable under Entry 82(3) of the Indian Customs Tariff read with Entry 15A of the Central Excise Tariff and that the same will not fall within Entry 73 as claimed by the respondent. The respondent took the matter in appeal to the Appellate Collector of Customs, the second appellant herein, who confirmed the orders of the Assistant Collector of Customs, the third respondent. Thereafter, revision petition was preferred to the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue and Insurance, Government of India, the first appellant herein, which, by its order dated 28-3-1974 held that the Periglass Sleevings were assessable under Entry 53 of the Indian Customs Tariff and that they will not fall either under Entry 73 or under 83 of the Indian Customs Tariff as contended by the respondent manufacturers. It is at this stage, the respondent came before this Court seeking to quash the orders of the first appellant disallowing its claim that the article will fall under Entry 73 or Entry 83 of the Indian Customs Tar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the fittings thereof but excluding electrical earthenware, brassware and porceline ware otherwise specified. Entry 82(3) is as follows : - 82(3)(a) Artificial or synthetic resins and plastic materials in any form, whether solid, liquid or pasty or as powder, granules or flakes or in the form of moulding powders ... Revenue 100% ad valorem (b) Articles made of plastics the following, namely, tubes, rods, sheets, foils sticks, other rectangular or profile shapes, whether laminated or not and whether rigid or flexible including lay flat tubings and polyvinyl chloride sheets ... Revenue 100% ad valorem Entry 87 runs thus - 87. All other articles not otherwise specified. Revenue Item 53 of Customs Tariff deals with textile manufacture not otherwise specified. Item 73(1) deals with electrical instruments, apparatus and appliances other than those specified in Item 73(16) and parts thereof not otherwise specified. Item 82(3) deals with Synthetic resins and plastic materials in any form, whether solid or liquid or pasty or as powder. Item 87 is a residuary class dealing wit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sound proofing. Glass fibres are now made by letting the molten glass drop through tiny orifices and blowing with air or stream to attenuate the fibres. The usual composition is that of a soda lime glass, but it may be varied for different purposes. - The glass low in alkali have high electrical resistance while those of higher, alkali are more acid resistant. They have very high tensible strength, up to about 400.0000 psi but the breaking strength, of years is expressed in pounds for any given yarn. The fibre glass fibres of the Owens-Corning Fibreglass Co are made standard diameters from 00,00028 to 0,008 in staple glass fibres is usually from woven on regular textile machines. Fibre glass yarns are marked in various sizes and toists in continuous or staple fibres, and with glass compositions varied to suit chemical or electrical requirements. Vitron Yarn of glass fibres, Inc. is a piled low twist yarn for braided insulation for wire. Glass sewing thread has a high twist. The minimum breaking strength of the 0.0014 in. thread is 12 lb." In Employment of Textiles, 2nd Edn. at page 40, this is what is stated about Glass Fibres - "A group of textile fibres and yarns is made of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the question arose as to whether betel leaves fell within item `vegetables' so as to earn exemption from sales tax and the Supreme Court had held - "that word `vegetable' had not been defined in the Act, and that the same must be construed not in any technical sense nor from the botanical point of view but as understood in common parlance and so construed it denoted those classes of vegetable matter which are grown : in kitchen garden and are used for the table and did not comprise betel leaves within it and, therefore, betel leaves were not exempt from taxation." 4. The respondent also relied on the decision of this court in Standard Batteries Ltd. v. Appraiser, Appraising Dept. - 1981 Taxation Law Report 2792, wherein the identical question came up for consideration and Padmanabhan J. has held - " `Fibreglass sleevings' do not come within the ordinary meaning of the word `textile' or the sense in which the word `textile' is commonly understood in ordinary parlance. The fibre glass sleevings used in the manufacture of plastic glass tubes, are in turn used in the manufacture of miner cap lamps batteries, and not as a variety of textile manufacture. Therefore, the fibre gla ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sts. A particular type of strip may according to certain definitions be skelp and according to others not skelp. This, however, cannot be permitted in a fiscal legislation which by all standards should adopt a clear definition of an excisable item which is incapable of giving rise to a confounding controversy as in this case unless the matter is beyond doubt in view of the popular meaning or meaning ascribed to the term in commercial parlance. In the absence of any clear criterion to determine what is skelp and not strip, no useful purpose would be served by even remanding the matter to the Excise authorities for a decision after taking necessary evidence. It is only when a taxing law provides for a clear and unequivocal test for determination as to whether a particular product would fall under strip or skelp it may be possible for the authorities to address itself to the evidence submitted by the parties in order to come to a decision on the basis of the test. This is, however, not possible in this case in view of the fact that there is no identifiable standard. The best way to define the product for the purpose of excise duty in appropriate terms demarcating clearly the distincti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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