TMI Blog1992 (2) TMI 98X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ioner No. 1. 2. According to the petitioners, it was insisted that before the petitioners could carry on the business of such packaging of the duty paid tea, they must obtain central excise licence and so under duress and compulsion, in order to carry on the business, the petitioners had to take a licence under the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). 3. The sole question for determination in this petition is as to whether the package or packet in which the duty paid tea is sold to the consumers, is liable to payment of excise duty under Tariff Item No. 3 of the schedule to the Act. There is a slight modification in this regard which is of no practical consequence. Under the Central Excises and Salt A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ufactured in India. (Underlining is ours for the sake of emphasis). This brings us to the definition of the term 'excisable goods.' Section 2(d) of the Act lays down that 'excisable goods' means goods specified in the First Schedule as being subject to a duty of excise and includes salt. Excisable goods are thus specified in the first schedule, but such excisable goods must be produced or manufactured in India. An excise duty is, therefore, a duty on production or manufacture of excisable goods. Goods are something which can ordinarily come to the market to be brought and sold and is known to the market as such. 'Manufacture' has been defined in Section 2(f) as including any process incidental or ancillary to the completion of a manufacture ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ry processes resulting in manufacture is that when a new substance is brought into existence or if it is a new or different article having a distinct name, character or use resulting from a particular process or processes, such an activity would then amount to manufacture, and duty of excise would be leviable on such a substance. Where, therefore, 'tea' is the excisable goods produced or manufactured including all incidental or ancillary process or processes, the process of packing alone cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be either incidental or ancillary to, nor in any manner, integrally or inextricably bound with the production or manufacture of tea. The process of packing is neither incidental nor ancillary to the completion of the m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... upon the language of Item No. 3 of the First Schedule to the 1944 Act which may be reproduced hereunder. Item No. 3 of the First Schedule reads thus : 3. Tea: 'Tea' includes all varieties of the product known commercially as Tea and also includes 'Green Tea' and 'Instant Tea' Not exceeding Rs. Two per Kg. as the Central Government may, by notification in the official gazette, fix. (1) Tea, all varieties except'Package tea' and 'Instant tea' falling within sub-items (2) and (3) respectively, of this item. (2) Package tea, that is to say, tea packed in any kind of container containing not more than 27 Kg. net of tea, but excluding 'Instant Tea'. One rupee and twenty-five paise p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... No. 1A mentions confectionery, cocoa powder and chocolates in or in relation to the manufacture of which any process is carried on with the aid of power. Item No. 1B is 'Prepared' or 'Preserved Foods' etc. Item No. 1C deals with Food Products in or in relation to the manufacture of which any process is carried on with the aid of power and includes 'biscuits, butter, pasteurised or processed cheese'. Item No. ID is 'aerated waters of various types'. Item No. 1E covers 'glucose and dextrose and preparations' thereof. Item No. 1F deals with 'maida'. Item No. 2 mentions 'coffee' and Item No. 3 deals with 'tea'. Thereafter the changes in the 'description of goods' is given as 'Beverages and Tobacco'. 9. It will thus be seen that sugar, confect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cisions on the item that in the context of the provisions of the Act, the phrase 'all varieties' occurring in Item No. 3 was interpreted to mean 'different types of tea which are commercially known to be of different types.' A reference in this connection has been made to the case of Long View Tea Co. v. Collector of Central Excise - (77) TLR (NOC) 16. 10. Having considered the matter in all its ramifications, we, therefore, come to the conclusion that package or container of any sort containing tea of any variety is not commercially known as tea, nor can it be loosely so. It, therefore, does not fall within the charging Section 3, read with Item No. 3 of the first schedule to the Act, nor for that matter is any package, the end of a prod ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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