9911796707
TMI Blog1983 (2) TMI 312X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2. This appeal relates to the levy of additional duty of customs under Section 3(1) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, on the aircraft tyres sent abroad by M/s. Indian Airlines (hereinafter referred to as the appellants ) and re-imported after being retreaded. The Customs authorities charged the re-imported tyres to basic customs duty under Section 2 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, read with the First Schedule thereto, and also to the additional duty (commonly referred to as countervailing duty ) under Section 3(1) ibid. However, the duty in both cases was calculated not on the assessable value of the tyres but on the cost of the retreading, plus insurance and freight charges. This was on the basis of Notification No. 204-Cus., dated 2- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dered as manufacture , since retreaded tyres do not result in the emergence of new tyres. He also cited Bombay Collectorate. Trade Notice No. 86, dated 29-5-1979 (Cencus, June 1975 p. 289) wherein it was clarified that servicing, repairings or re-making of goods which are already in use without involving the manufacture of new articles did not constitute manufacture. 4. Shri Mathur also cited a judgment of the Bombay High Court in the case of Century Enka Ltd. (ECR p. 177D) for the proposition that the goods totally exempted from Central Excise duty do not attract countervailing duty. 5. Shri Mathur therefore argued that the levy of countervailing duty on the retreaded tyres of the appellants was illegal and should be set aside. 6 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cle which is imported into India shall, in addition, be liable to a duty (hereafter in this section referred to as the additional duty) equal to the excise duty for the time being leviable on a like article if produced or manufactured in India and if such excise duty on a like is leviable at any percentage of its value, the additional duty to which the imported article shall be so liable shall be calculated at that percentage of the value of the imported article. Explanation. - In this section, the expression the excise duty for the time being leviable on a like article if produced or manufactured in India means the excise duty for the time being in force which would be leviable on a like article if produced or manufactured in India, o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lants have however proceeded on the basis that additional duty should be calculated exactly as if it were an excise duty. The judgments and the trade notice relied upon by the appellants are mostly leviable to excise duty. [The judgment of the Bombay High Court in the case of Century Enka Ltd., of which the correct reference should have been 1982 ECR 177D (Bombay), has no application to the present case since that was with reference to a case where goods had been exempted from excise duty by a notification under Rule 8(1) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944]. As pointed out above, this assumption is not well-founded. From the wording of Section 3(1) of the Customs Tariff Act, reproduced in para 7 above, it will be seen that it is of very wide ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... vance to the valuation of the article, would not affect the class or description to which the article belongs, and which is to be seen with reference to the relevant entries in the Central Excise Tariff Schedule. The relevant entry in the present case is Item No. 16, namely, tyres which has been amplified as follows :- Tyres means a pneumatic tyre in the manufacture of which rubber is used and includes the inner tube, the tyre flap and the outer cover of such a tyre. Thus the description does not per se rule out old or retreaded tyres, since these also fall within the class or description of tyres . It is a different matter that a particular indigenous tyre, although it falls within the tariff item, is not chargeable to central ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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