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TMI Blog2010 (2) TMI 395X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 010 - Dated:- 18-2-2010 - S/Shri M.V. Ravindran, Member (J) and P. Karthikeyan, Member (T) Shri V. Raja Ram, DR, for the Appellant. Shri B. Seshagiri Rao, Consultant, for the Respondent. [Order per : P. Karthikeyan, Member (T)]. - This is an appeal filed by the Revenue. The issue involved is whether the 'roof bolts' and 'W straps' prepared and cleared by the respondents for use in mines are manufactured goods exigible to duty. In the impugned order, the Commissioner (Appeals) held that no manufacture was involved in their production. He recorded the process of production of these goods in the following words : (1) W straps - hot re-rolled sheet of 225 mm width, 3.15 mm thickness, cut into different lengths of 2.4 mtrs, 3 mt ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... missioner (Appeals) have been assailed as incorrect. They have relied on a decision of the Tribunal in the case of Sanjay Industrial Corporation v. CCE, Mumbai reported in 2003 (155) E.L.T. 369 wherein it was held that conversion of plain MS plates into MS profiles, rings, circles, channels and angles through process of profile cutting amounted to manufacture as new and distinct products emerged in the process. In the case of Mahindra Mahindra Ltd. v. CCE, Aurangabad, Chandigarh, Kanpur and Chennai reported in 2005 (190) E.L.T. 301 (Tribunal-LB), the Tribunal held that fabrication amounted to manufacture as raw materials like angles, plates, tubes, etc., acquired distinct shape to suit the structural design. No mere drilling of holes was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e to make it a bolt. The impugned goods are different from the respective raw materials and have new names and uses. They are manufactured goods. 7. As per the impugned order, W straps are fabricated by cutting hot re-rolled sheets of 225 mm width, 3.15 mm thickness, into different lengths such as 2.4 mtrs, 3 mtrs, 3.6 mtrs and 4 mtrs as per the requirement to form a structure resembling alphabet 'W' with the aid of press break machine. Holes are punched with punching machine to enable fixing them with roof bolts. Roof bolts are fabricated from steel rods of 20mm and 22 mm diameter by cutting them into different lengths of 1.2 mtrs, 1.5 mtrs, 1.65 mtrs, 1.75 mtrs and 1.8 mtrs. The item tapers at one end and has threading at the other end ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... industry; the generality of the public may never hear of such goods. In the instant case, the impugned goods are known to the respondents and its customers. They are hence marketable. This was the ratio of the Apex Court's judgment in the AP State Electricity Board (supra).The Apex Court held as follows on marketability in paragraph 10 of the above said judgment : "10. It would be evident from the facts and ratio of the above decisions that the goods in each case were found to be not marketable. Whether it is refined oil (non-deodorised) concerned in Delhi Cloth and General Mills, or kiln gas in South Bihar Sugar Mills, or aluminium cans with rough uneven surface in Union Carbide, or PVC films in Bhor Industries or hydrolysate in Ambalal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Tribunal is unobjectionable." 9. In Union of India v. Delhi Cloth and General Mills Co. Ltd. reported in 1977 (1) E.L.T. J199 (Supreme Court), Apex Court defined the exigible activity of 'manufacture' as bringing into existence a new substance known to the market. They quoted with approval a passage from an American judgment which runs thus :- "Manufacture implies a change, but every change is not manufacture and yet every change of an article is the result of treatment, labour and manipulation. But something more is necessary and there must be transformation; a new and different article must emerge having a distinctive name, character or use." 9.1 In respect of W straps and roof bolts the above test of manufacture is satisfied. I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ther held that the goods manufactured on the orders of customers and sold to them against payment were marketable. The Tribunal further held that goods in question i.e. M.S. profiles, circles, squares and rings are rightly classifiable under sub-heading 7326.90 as "other articles of iron and steel." 12. In the CCE Hyderabad v. Deepak Galvanising and Engineering Industries (Pvt.) Ltd. [2008 (228) E.L.T. 40 (Tri-Bang.) cited by the respondents, the Tribunal extracted the following paragraph in Mahindra Mahindra Ltd. v. CCE, Aurangabad, Chandigarh, Kanpur and Chennai decision (supra) :- "The iron and steel raw material such as angles, plates, tubes, etc. are used in making part of structures and they acquired a distinctly different shape ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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