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TMI Blog1983 (12) TMI 296X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lector contrary to the claim of the mill that the paper should be assessed under 17(3), they claimed refund of the differential duty. The mill says that the paper was supplied and used as printing and writing paper and that such varieties of paper were allowed to be cleared in the past under tariff sub-item 17(3) and, therefore, should not be upgraded into a higher Tariff Item without notice to the manufacturer. Because of the assessment by the Assistant Collector as cartridge paper under 17(2) they said they were entitled to a refund claim of ₹ 13,588.96. The refund claim of the mill appears to have been made in response to instructions from the Assistant Collector to file a refund claim if they were dissatisfied with the assessment of the paper as cartridge paper under 17(2). Meanwhile, another Assistant Collector took charge of the Division and he issued a letter to the mills to state whether they had anything further to say in the matter. Their reply was that they had been asked to send the refund application by the previous Assistant Collector who had already passed orders on their eligibility to the refund, and that the department therefore had to pass the claim. Howeve ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... printing paper assessable under 17(3), but the Assistant Collector without notice to the factory unilaterly changed the assessments to 17(2) and assessed the paper at a higher rate of duty. They accordingly protested against the assessment. It was not correct for the Assistant Collector to say that there could have been no protest over the assessment since such goods were being assessed under 17(3) in the past and the Assistant Collector took a unilateral decision to assess the paper under 17(2) as cartridge paper because he said that the were indistinguishable from such (cartridge) paper. 6. The learned Counsel for the department said that this was a case of refund. The duty claimed has been already recovered from the customer after the Assistant Collector modified the assessment to 17(2) in the classification list. 7. He also referred to a few authoritative books on the subject in PAPER AND ITS USES by Edward A. Dawe (1939). Cartridge paper is described as strong papers, the best qualities being tub-sized. The same book carries a paragraph about offset cartridges. Some of these papers have the character of a carefully made but fairly smooth cartridge paper, others are of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e paper and that the party declared as offset. In this order a quotation is made from the report of the Tariff Commission to the effect that offset and cartridge paper is a type of paper suitable for offset printing process and that it was normally made from bamboo or grass stock and may contain some amount of rag and wood pulp. For purposes of printing, it is normally below 85 gms while for drawing it is above 85 gms and may also be tub-sized and it includes ordinary litho paper. The learned Counsel emphasised that the matter of classification was only secondary, the primary proceeding being a claim under Rule 11 and this was not maintainable. 10. In reply the Counsel for the appellant said that it was not correct to say that this originated only as a refund claim. It was a classification matter from the very beginning, their classification list having been amended arbitrarily by the Assistant Collector from 17(3) to 17(2). They followed the instructions of the Assistant Collector and hence they made a protest. It may be true that they did not follow the provisions of Rule 9B. But the Assistant Collector did not give an appealable order for his sudden and arbitrary change. He e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Printing, Paper Making And Book Binding by Kenneison and Spilman describes cartridge paper as a hard, tough class of paper made with a rough surface in a number of grades for a variety of purposes, such as drawing, cartridge making and wrapping. This article on cartridge paper also calls attention to offset cartridge on which it says that the advantage of printing by offset is that it enables high class colour work to be printed upon rough papers. When this process was first introduced, rough cartridge paper was the medium used to demonstrate this fact. With the growth in popularity of offset printing, a wide range of papers became available, and rough surface was now no longer a desideration. Offset paper should be hard i.e., non-fluffing, free from waviness and cockles and made with the grain in the long direction of the sheet. The best of these papers are made on twin wire machines. 15. The Indian Standard 4661 : 1968 calls a cartridge paper a hard-sized and strong paper generally free from loading and usually with a rough surface, substantially free from fluffing characteristics. It also gives an article on offset cartridge which it says is a special variety of hard size ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... act that it had been supplied for printing to the government has not been rejected. Indeed, the Appellate Collector accepts that it was so used when he said that it may be true that the paper was actually used for printing purposes, although he went on to say that because of the higher grammage it is considered indistinguishable from cartridge paper which fell under Item 17(2). 18. We are not satisfied with the finding of the lower authorities for many reasons. There is nothing in paper technology or in the law of central excise relating to paper taxation, that says that a higher grammage will make the difference between one kind of paper and another. The test result, for no reasons we are able to discover, confined itself to certifying the grammage but said nothing about the character, structure, strength etc. of the paper. We do not know if indeed the assessing authorities sought any information besides the substance of the paper. To argue as the central excise assessing officer did would be like saying that no offset printing paper can be assessed as a printing paper except when its grammage is low enough to satisfy them, a reasoning as unscientific as it is lacking in legal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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