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TMI Blog1978 (11) TMI 71X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3A could never apply to these items. It was contended by Mr. Daru that figured glass, rolled glass, wired glass, coolex figured glass, coloured figured glass and coolex wired glass manufactured by the petitioner-company are different from sheet glass and plate glass; that in general commercial parlance these goods are never treated as sheet glass and have well understood differences as known in the market. It was submitted that general public who have to deal with these items in open market do not call these items as sheet glass. In order to substantiate this contention evidence was led before the departmental authorities. But the said evidence was brushed aside as irrelevant and `off the rail'. ***** 13. Mr. Daru has contended that the Indian Standard Institution has prepared a glossary of terms relating to glass industry. The said glossary has been brought about after common deliberations of the participants like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Hindustan Pilkington Glass Works Ltd., All India Glass Manufacturers Association and others. In the said glossary, published in February 1962, it has been clearly mentioned that Flat glass is a general term covering ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... different price in the market by all persons in this trade all over India. He further stated that so far as plate glass is concerned, it was different from the glasses stated above and it was not manufactured in India and was imported from foreign countries. This witness offered himself for cross-examination but the departmental authorities did not think it fit to cross-examine him. Now the evidence of this witness was very material for the test of the commodity being known in common parlance and commercial world but surprisingly enough this evidence has been brushed aside by the Assistant Collector by a cryptic observation that all that was stated by the witness was off the rail. The same is the evidence of other two witnesses but as they were employees of the petitioner company we do not advert to their version but the fact remains that the evidence regarding the treatment of the disputed goods by persons conversant with the use thereof in the commercial world has been brushed aside on entirely irrelevant considerations by the departmental authorities. The Assistant Collector decided to ignore the evidence of this witness by saying that it was off the rail. The position is worse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Similarly by other manufacturing process the finished product which emerges is wired glass or coloured glass etc., as the case may be. It has been stated in the petition that even the furnaces for manufacturing different types of disputed items are quite different. It is stated that the petitioner company manufactured sheet glass from one furnace while it manufactured wired glass or coolex glass or figured glass, as the case may be, from different furnaces. Thus, it is not as if sheet glass after being manufactured is further processed to be converted into figured glass or wired glass etc. and consequently there is no question of these other types of glasses being part and parcel of sheet glass as submitted by the respondents. 17. Even apart from this, each of these items had different characteristics. It was submitted by Mr. Daru that even apart from the common parlance test and the fact that the customers and businessmen understand these various items as different commodities in ordinary commercial market, even by appearance these commodities had, their distinct individual characteristics. That sheet glass and plate glass are transparent. The sheet glass has waviness, while pl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and plate glass would cover all other types of glass. Now so far as the heading of the item is concerned, Mr. Daru pointed out that in the Central Excise Tariff of India, 1978, published by Central Law office, Delhi, Item No. 35 refers to cycle parts in general. While in the tariff description only two cycle parts are mentioned as parts of cycle other than motor cycle - (i) free wheels (ii) Rims. Different rates have been prescribed for only these parts even when a general term `cycle parts' is mentioned in the title of the entry. Merely because the heading of the entry is wide, it would not mean that it would cover all types of commodities which would be covered by the general heading unless specific provision is made for these different parts in the body of the entry or item. Consequently, we cannot accept the submission of Mr Shelat on the construction of the Item 23A in the light of its heading. ***** 30. We, therefore, hold on the application of the correct test of common parlance as to how a commodity is known in the common market and in commercial world by those who normally deal with it as buyer or seller or as manufacturer or as a user of such commodity and in the ligh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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