9911796707
TMI Blog1981 (12) TMI 41X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to state the few relevant facts which are as follows : As stated above, the petitioner-company manufactures automobile windscreens, both flat and curved, and sells them as parts and accessories of motor vehicles. There is no dispute that till 28th February, 1979, having regard to the notification issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs, respondent No. 2 herein (hereinafter referred to as "the Board") windscreens were exempt from excise duty since the duty was paid on the glass from which they were manufactured. In March 1979, Article 34A was inserted in the excise tariff on account of which motor vehicle parts Tractors and Trailors were made subject to excise duty at the rate of 20% ad valorem. The said entry enumerated various motor parts which were made subject to duty at the rate of 20% ad valorem. If the entries stood by itself and if windscreen was considered to be a motor part (which is the principal question to be decided in this petition) the petitioner-company would have been liable to pay duty on windscreen at the rate of 20%. But by a notification issued contemporaneously, Notification No. 76/79-C.E., dated 1st March, 1979, it was provided that those motor par ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... body from the department thought that the said amended entry 23A could have any application to the articles namely on the windscreens manufactured by the petitioner-company. But it appears that some brain-wave hit some officers of the department who were able to persuade themselves to take the view that the windscreen was better regarded as "other glass" within the contemplation of the said amended entry 23A than a motor-part within the contemplation of entry 34A. It is unnecessary to set out the various requisitions made by the department upon the petitioner-company in that behalf. It is enough to state that by their letter dated 28th August, 1979, the Superintendent of Central Excise, respondent No. 5, herein called upon the petitioner-company to take a licence under the Act for the purpose of manufacture of windscreen under Item No. 23-A(4), evidently on the ground that according to the respondents windscreen bore the character of "other glass and glassware including tableware" chargeable with 35% duty ad valorem. The petitioner-company did not accept this interpretation by the respondents relating to either of the said entries 23A or 34A and hence some correspondence ensued. On ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reens manufactured by them were motor parts and such entry No. 34A of the Central Excise Tariff specifically applied to the said commodity. The contention is that since said entry No. 34A is a specific provision no question would arise of the application of entry No. 23A (4) which was after all general provision relating to glass and glassware. 6. The contention of the department on the other hand is that what is manufactured by the petitioner-company is an article from glass and nothing else. All that the company has done, according to the department, is that raw material of glass which is received by the company is curved and cut into sizes suitable for windscreens. The contention is that windscreen did not cease to be glass merely because by certain process firstly it is flattened or curved and secondly toughened with a view to have a flat or curved windscreens, that the ultimate commodity continued to be glass and that there is nothing in Item No. 23A(4) which would exclude from the category of "glass" articles which have been cut to sizes and are used ultimately for certain specific purpose. The contention further is that windscreen after all constitutes end-use of the glass ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y of the departmental reasoning lies in the fact that the raw material from which the final product is manufactured is equated with the final product itself. 9. Mr. Sethna, the learned Advocate appearing for the respondents, conceded before us that windscreen was a motor part. But it may be stated that his concession was a qualified concession. He contended that so far as motor parts were concerned, they were numerous in number. But even though the windscreen was a motor part it continued to be "glass" and hence entry 23A(4) must be held to be the specific provision so far as excise duty payable for windscreen was concerned. To our mind this contention is fallacious. We will presently point out that if at all there arose a question as to between the two entries namely 23A(4) and 34A which is the specific entry vis-a-vis windscreen, we would have had no hesitation in holding that it is entry No. 34A which is the specific entry and not entry No. 23A(4). But apart from this question of specific and generic entry, to our mind the question has got to be approached more from practical and commercial point of view and not from theoretical or academic point of view. As will be presently p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ty identified independently from glass or glassware. 10. Both the sides heavily relied upon Brussels Nomenclature in support of their contention and hence it is worthwhile making a reference to the same at this stage. In Volume 4 of the explanatory notes to the Brussels Nomenclature parts and accessories of the motor vehicles are commented upon. The main test in this behalf is to be found in para 87.06 at page 1500 (Volume 4), which runs as follows : "This heading covers parts and accessories of the motor vehicles falling within heading 87.01, 87.02 or 87.03, provided that the parts and accessories fulfil both the following condition : (i) They must be identifiable as being suitable for use solely or principally with the above-mentioned vehicles, and (ii) They must not be excluded by the provisions of the Notes to Section XVII (see corresponding General Explanatory Note)." Further in the same para 87.06, it is mentioned in sub-para B that parts of bodies and associated accessories are classified in the present heading that is to say in the heading of parts and accessories of the motor vehicles and the parts and accessories which are enumerated by way of illustration include w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ontended that windscreens were nothing but glass and they were not glassware and hence they were governed by entry 23A(4). To our mind, answer to this argument is in the form of the same proposition as the one we have already referred to above. We have to take into account general understanding of the commercial community in respect of the particular word used by the excise tariff for denoting or identifying the relevant article. We have already found that windscreen is not considered to be mere glass by the commercial community. Windscreen will not be available with a dealer in glasses. If that is so it is futile to contend that the mere fact that glass was added to the commodities which were subject matter of the article 23A(4) even the windscreen which was previously governed by article 34-A started being governed by entry No. 23A(4). Mr. Sethna's second line of argument was based upon the observations in explanatory notes to the Brussels Nomenclature, Volume 4, at page 1471. He particularly relied upon para (C) at page 1471 which states that parts and accessories, even if identifiable as for the articles of this section, are excluded, however, if they are covered more specif ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hose classes of vegetable matter which are grown in kitchen garden and are used for the table and did not comprise betel leaves within it and therefore, betel leaves were not exempt from taxation. In Commr. of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh v. Jaswant Singh Charansingh, (1967) 2 SCR 720: (AIR 1967 SC 1454) the question was whether the item 'coal' under Entry I of Part III of Second Schedule to Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958 included charcoal or not and this Court observed thus : "Now, there can be no dispute that while coal is technically understood as a mineral product, charcoal is manufactured by human agency from products like wood and other things. But it is now well settled that while interpreting items in statutes like the Sales Tax Acts, resort should be had not to the scientific or the technical meaning of such terms but to their popular meaning or the meaning attached to them by those dealing in them, that is to say, to their commercial sense." Viewing the question from the above angle this Court further observed that both a merchant dealing in coal and a consumer wanting to purchase it would regard coal not in its geological sense but in the sense as ordinarily un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
