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2004 (8) TMI 476

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..... duces Bills of Entries assessing identical goods imported by the appellants themselves at Mumbai and Chennai Custom Houses under Heading 87.01 whereas the impugned goods under the present appeal have been assessed under Heading 87.04 at Nhava Sheva Custom House. He further states that in other countries, such goods are classified under Heading 87.01 and submits an e-mail dtd. 16-8-2004 to this effect. He states that the Automotive Research Association of India have certified the impugned goods to be tractors as also the registration certificates issued by the motor vehicle authorities under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Rules made thereunder. He submits illustration of the impugned goods (vide Page 2) which, when coupled with semi-traile .....

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..... rs and tractor haulers which are akin to the impugned goods were always classified as tractors without making distinction between Industrial tractors and agricultural tractors. He also refers to the decision of the Hon ble Madras High Court in the case of General Marketing and Manufacturing Co. Ltd. v. The State of Tamil Nadu - 1980 (45) STC 96 to show that the difference between a tractor and another vehicle is that the tractor merely pulls another item of machinery. It is his contention that the lower authorities have wrongly presumed that tractor is meant only for agricultural use. <!--[endif]--> <!--[endif]--> <!--[endif]--> 2. Shri Vimlesh Kumar, learned S.D.R. is no .....

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..... e recommended maximum GCW is 60 tonnes on flat roads. 3. After hearing both sides at length and perusal of the case records, we find that the lower authorities have classified the impugned goods as trucks under Headings 87.04 mainly on account of the fact that these have been described as trucks in the supplier s own catalogue. They have also emphasized the fact that these are not used for agricultural purposes. We are of the view that while the catalogue of the manufacturer/supplier can have a hearing on the classification, the same cannot be the sole basis or the determining factor for arriving at classification of a product. At times, the catalogues either emphasize a particular aspect of the goods to attract the buyers or they may h .....

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..... ctor industry. It is a device that is fitted on the impugned goods so as to enable the impugned goods to be connected to a trailer or semi-trailer. Kingpin is a device that is fixed on the front portion of the semi-trailer to enable the impugned goods to be connected to the semi-trailer. The King-pin gets locked with the fifth-wheel mounted on the rear portion of the impugned goods. The King-pin enables the semi-trailer to be hauled by the impugned goods. The cabin is so designed that it supports the braking system and electrical connections of the trailer through hoses which run from the cabin to the trailer. The impugned goods in question as imported are not designed to carry any payload by themselves. The payload is carried only by .....

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..... After going through these meanings, we are of the view that the impugned goods can be appropriately described as truck-tractor and the same are classifiable as tractor particularly keeping in view the Chapter Note 2 to Chapter 87 and the relevant Classification Decisions of the World Custom Organization which require such vehicles and the semi-trailer to be separately classified respectively under Heading 87.01 87.16. We are also of the view that the lower authorities are unjustified in classifying the product differently in regard to the impugned imports at Nhava Sheva under Heading 87.04 when their counterparts at Mumbai and Chennai Custom Houses have classified identical goods imported by the same importer under Heading 87.01. Such di .....

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