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TMI Blog1984 (12) TMI 316X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The problems arose because the Central Excise suspected that the machinery parts like pickers which the factory manufactures were made from rigid plastic sheets because in that case they would be liable to duty and would not be entitled to exemption under Notification No. 68/71-C.E., dated 29-5-1971. A sample was examined by the Chemical Examiner at Baroda who reported that it was a thick tough plastic rectangular sheet of size 79X40x3.2 centimeters and was made from high density polyethylene. The Central Excise also took the opinion of Mr. Ashokbhai Chinubhai Shah, a Mechanical Engineer with experience in plastic and engineering industry who wrote an opinion on 27-3-1980 saying that the product examined by him had the dimensions 800 x 400 x 30 mm and would be defined as a sheet in the trade. 4. The Central Excise took a statement from Mr. Dilip N. Hutheesing a Partner in the Corporation, on 10-10-1979. According to the show cause notice, this Partner said that the Corporation manufactured sheets from high density high molecular polyethylene powder imported from Germany. The sheets so manufactured were subjected to the process of fabricator for preparing articles like pickers u ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nts of various shapes and sizes by fabrication. The material is first cold formed and then fed to the multiplaten compression pressed with a pattern size of 800 x 400 mm. By the application of temperature and pressure, the material is formed into blocks or slabs and he was of the opinion that these samples were generally referred to as slabs or blocks. They are very good engineering plastics and because of their good wearing properties they find application where wear and tear is very high. He also said during the examination that sheets were generally manufactured by extrusion and this requires a screw and a barrel for plastilizing the material and a T-die for forcing the material out from extruder to form a sheet which cannot be more than 6.5 mm in thickness. APC did not have this type of equipment for making the sheet. 7. APC made a reference to an internationally known institute, the American National Standards Institute of New York (ANSI) for help in defining their product. In a letter dated 17-12-1982, the Institute said that the definition of a sheet is an individual piece of sheeting. Sheeting is a form of plastic in which the thickness is very small in proportion to len ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... astic industry, blocks and slabs are not defined. The Indian Standards letter quoted by APC says that there was no available Indian Standard definition of slab block. The ASTM of 1965 Part 27 General method of testing has no term as block or slab. It, however, gives sheet and sheeting, with sheeting defined as an individual piece. Sheeting is a form of plastic where the thickness is very small. There is no such thing as a plastic block or slab in plastics technology; because a plastic product is thick cannot mean it cannot be a sheet. Indian Standard 6307 of 1971 is meant for a thermoplast manufactured by calendering, lamination. Mr. Athaley is not an independent person because he was associated with APC as a Consultant. His opinion, therefore, cannot be treated as an independent opinion. The Partner, Mr. Hatheesing s statement calls the product a sheet and a rigid one. The learned Counsel for the department referred to the book on Plastics by Dubois and Fredric in support of her arguments. 9. She said that the factory never applied for a licence for manufacturing the sheets and the goods were excisable even if they claim exemption; no declaration had been given, under Notificat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the product was in a form of a sheet. 12. But the Collector himself does not quote any authority for his opinion. On the defence side, there is a very instructive letter written by American National Standards Institute, New York, dated December 17, 1982 to APC. This letter says,- The definition of a sheet is an individual piece of sheeting (ANSI-ASTM D 883). Sheeting is a form of plastic in which the thickness is very small in proportion to length and width and in which the plastic is present as a continuous phase, with or without filler (ANSI-ASTM D 883). Your product is too thick to be called a sheet even though the definition does not include specific dimensions. The terms, block , slab or sheet are not terms limited to plastics but are more general and refer to many products made of steel, other metals, wood, rubber, etc. Therefore, a dictionary definition would apply. Based on the dimensions you provided, I believe the term slab would be appropriate. This is a letter of a reputed Standards Institute. 13. Mr. A Ghosh, Assistant Director, National Test House was examined before the Collector. Below are some of the questions he was asked and his answe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... product and the Department s Counsel agreed that the samples represent the products made by the factory. Some products can be made with a thickness of over 30 mm, though 30 mm was the minimum thickness. It does not appear reasonable to us to hold that a product if this thickness can be a sheet. It looks more like a block/slab to us. Although there is no hard and fast definition of what a sheet would be, one generally associates it with a web of continuous length with a very small thickness, a dimension that is almost negligible compared to length and width. It has been truly stated that sheets of plastics are generally made of extrusion. Although casting is not unknown, and, indeed, sheets can be cast provided the right technology is available, this is not to. say that sheets are ordinarily cast: the favoured process is extrusion. 17. We were told by both sides that these products are used for the manufacture of textile machinery components like pickers/lug strap and the process by which such components are made is machining. The only machining that sheets can withstand are processes like cutting, trimming and drilling. They cannot be machined to new forms, contours, shapes; th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e or a sheet or plate of marble and a sheet of steel and a block or bloom of steel. There are no definitive distinction between a block/slab, a sheet, a strip and a plate but generally speaking, a block or a slab would not be classed together with sheets, plates and strips. Sheet and plate have lengths and widths many times the thickness, whereas in blocks and slabs the thickness is a definitive dimensional proportion with the width and the length. At times, the thickness can be equal to the length and width in which case the block becomes a cube. Even in rectangular blocks and slabs the thickness is sizable in proportion to the length and width. It will be interesting to see what the dictionaries say about these terms. 22. A SHEET is described as- A wide, thin, and usually flexible piece of material, such as paper or metal, which is thinner than plate. (Me Graw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms). A large wide expanse or thin piece; a large broad piece of paper. (Chambers 20th Century Dictionary). A relatively thin piece of considerable breadth of a malleable, ductile or pliable substance. (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary). A BLOCK is d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he testimony of the Assistant Director, National Test House, and that is, that it is not based on any authority. The statement given by Mr. Hatheesing, the partner of APC, does indeed speak of the firm having manufactured sheets; but the statement also says that the products could be called tablets, and they were accounted as slabs. This partner gave the thickness of the sheets/slabs as 30 mm to 70 mm. We have not been able to convince ourselves that a product or a rectangular piece with this thickness can ever be a sheet. It can only be a block or a slab as the firm declares. The learned counsel for the APC was mistaken when he claimed that the product was not rigid and would not, therefore, attract any mischief under the exemption notification. If the product is a slab or a block it has to be rigid otherwise it would not be a slab or a block. The claim of the appellant about rigidity is self-contradictory. In any case, we are not convinced by the case of the department that the manufacturer s product can be sheets. The department has not given sufficient authority for calling the goods sheets ; we are ourselves of the opinion that the goods should be more correctly termed slabs ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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