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TMI Blog1983 (12) TMI 304X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ds and the same appellant, i.e., the present appellant, that CV duty was not leviable on acrylic crushed scrap. The Tribunal took the same decision in an earlier dispute of the very same nature in 1983 E.L.T. 845 when it held that acrylic crushed scrap was not leviable to CV duty under Item 15A of the Central Excise Tariff. He submitted that the nature of the goods is such that Item 15A of the C.E.T. was not attracted. The goods were scrap/waste and so were not goods for purposes of assessment : hence Section 3 of the Customs Act, 1975 was not attracted and there was no manufacture as no person sets out to manufacture scrap. The Assistant Collector has treated the goods as plastic materials and he also held that in case of indigenous goods, excise duty is paid on plastic materials from which such scrap arises and, therefore, he held that the goods were plastic material and they had correctly been subjected to CV duty. The Appellate Collector said that the goods, though defective, remain within the category of sheets only since these can be used in non-critica applications. Such sheets, if cut to smaller sizes, remain within the heading of sheets, if not fabricated further. The plas ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re, if they are in the form of scrap, the item was still able to attract the goods within its fold. Acrylic plastics are thermoplastic and according to `Plastic Technology by Brice such materials can be reformed and remoulded. The BTN in Chapter 39 fully covers waste and scrap under Artificial Resin and Plastic Materials. 5. The Encyclopaedia of Polymer Science and Technology also says the same thing. He also brought to the notice of the Bench that the 1983 E.L.T. 845 decision was based on wrong assessment that the scrap was not capable of direct moulding. The decision of the Tribunal in Order No. 330/83-C was also erroneous because Item 15A was very wide and easily cover waste and scrap. The learned Counsel referred to Order No. 222 to 229/83-C. In this decision, the Tribunal held that cellulose acetate scrap was appropriately assessable under 15A(1). In a decision in 1983 (1983 E.L.T. 292) it was ruled by the Delhi High Court that brass scrap falling under Heading 74.01/02 was leviable to customs duty. It was ruled by the High Court that waste and scrap has potential of another article as it is for recovery of the metal which is excisable. The court also held that since brass ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hermoplastic resins are susceptible of having their mouldable resins recovered by such processes as depolymerisation. But we are aware of no authority that says that crushed scrap obtained from formed articles can be directly moulded to form new articles even with the aid of heat and pressure. 9. The learned Counsel for the Department refers to the BTN which covers waste and scrap. He argues that Item 15A(1) of the C.E.T. was wide enough to cover mouldable or formable scrap. The learned Counsel, however, argued that Item 15A(1) of the C.E.T. which covers resins and plastic materials can cover waste and scrap of the type imported by the appellant. Since the crushed scrap can be moulded, there is nothing to prevent it from being assessed to countervailing duty under Item 15A(1). This is, however, to assume that Item 15A(1) at the material time was designed to cover waste and scrap also. The item was enlarged in 1982 specifically to include waste and scrap but before that waste and scrap were not included. The learned Counsel for the Department made the suggestion that the inclusion in 1982 of waste and scrap makes no difference because waste and scrap were already covered by the i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erial and so had been correctly assessed to CV duty. In none of the orders of the Assistant Collector is the C.E. Tariff Item mentioned. When the appeals went before the Appellate Collectors, they (the appeals were heard by 2 or 3 different officers) held the crushed scrap to be still sheets. In 3 or 4 appeal orders, the Appellate Collector even said the goods were assessable under 15A(2). In one appeal order (S/49-558/77R, S/49-560/77R, dated 27-1-1978 passed by Shri B.K. Doshi) the sentences themselves defy total comprehension, but the little sense that does emerge seems to imply that the adjudicator wanted to say that crushing large sheets to smaller sheets does not make the sheets less sheets. Here is a sample; thus by converting large sheets to that of lower dimensions does not make the same article of plastic crushed sheet scrap is, therefore, covered by Item 15A of C.E.T. and not fall in exempted category vide Notification No. 228/76 . [Notification 228/76 exempts plastic articles, except sheets, rods, tubes etc. from CV duty]. Evidently for him the goods were plastic sheets (and so not exempted under 228/76). In appeal order S/49-1426/76R, dated 27-11-1976, the same Appell ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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