9911796707
TMI Blog1997 (12) TMI 646X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e duty leviable thereon, Tariff Item No. 11 is : "Item No. Description of Goods Rate of duty 11. Coal (excluding lignite) and coke all sorts, including calcined petroleum coke : Asphalt, Bitumen and Tar (1) Coal and coke not elsewhere specified. Ten rupees per metric tonne. (2) Petroleum coke, other than calcined petroleum coke. Twenty per cent ad valorem plus two thousand rupees per metric tonne. (3) Calcined petroleum coke. Twenty per cent ad valorem. (4) Asphalt and bitumen (including cutback bitumen and asphalt) natural or produced from petroleum or shale. Two hundred rupees per metric tonne. (5) Tar distilled from coal or lignite and other mineral tars, including partially distilled tars and blends of pitch with cr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... der of the Tribunal is as under : "We do not see any reason to deviate from the above-referred to decision. Respectfully following the same, we uphold the classification of items at serial Nos. 3 to 8 under Item 68, CET. Notification No. 121/62 applies only to tar falling under Item No. 11(5). Therefore, it does not apply to the subject pitches." The goods mentioned in Serial Nos. 3 to 8 of the Chemical Examiner's Report were as under : Sl. No. in the classification list Description of the product of chemical test Gist of the results 1. xxx xxx 2. xxx xxx 3. Soft Pitch The sample is coal tar pitch 4. Soft Medium Pitch -do- 5. Hard Pitch -do- 6. Hard Medium Pitch -do- 7. Special Hard Pitch The sample ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s an item distinct from coal tar or partially distilled tar. 5. On behalf of the respondents, strong reliance was placed on this judgment and it was contended that what the appellants had manufactured was various types of pitch which did not come within the ambit of Tariff Item 11(5) and, therefore, did not qualify for exemption. 6. On behalf of the appellant, our attention was drawn to a judgment of this Court in the case of Steel Authority of India Limited v. Collector of Excise, Bolpur, West Bengal - 1997 (91) E.L.T. 529 (S.C.) where it was held that the exemption notification exempted `tar' falling under Item 11 of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944. The meaning of `tar' had to be gathered from the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... see this fine distinction. Pitch is brought about by distillation of tar. If the contention of the respondent is to be upheld, it will have to be held that even though pitch is brought forth by distillation of tar, it is not "tar distillation product". 9. We are unable to uphold this distinction for another reason. According to "Webster Comprehensive Dictionary International Edition "coal tar" means "the black viscid pitch distilled from bituminous coal, and yielding a large variety of organic compounds used in the making of dye stuffs explosives flavoring extracts, drugs, plastics etc". Therefore, in a sense, coal tar itself is a variety of pitch. By distillation of coal tar a type of pitch is obtained. That must come within th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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