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TMI Blog2025 (3) TMI 1057X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ies of earthmoving equipment etc. under the Head "Automobiles"; therefore, to this extent, the adjudged demands for the period prior to 29.04.2010 cannot be sustained. Further, it is a fact on record that Third Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 was retrospectively amended vide Finance Act, 2011 read with Finance Act, 2012, with effect from 29.4.2010. Accordingly, from 29.4.2010, the appellant started discharging the excise duty on activity of packing / re-packing and affixing MRP undertaken on spare parts at warehouse, on the basis of MRP-based assessment. This was also confirmed by the jurisdictional Commissioner of Central Excise, Nagpur vide their letter dated 07.01.2014 submitting therewith the verification report dated 30.12.2013 received from the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise Division-II, Nagpur that the appellant is discharging the Central Excise duty on MRP basis. In finally answering the issues on which reference was made to Larger Bench, on account of difference of opinion between two Co-ordinate Benches of the Tribunal and based on the direction given by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, it was held 'The amendment made in the Third Schedule to the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t to subsequent sales to their dealers and industrial consumers. The appellant was of the understanding that since no manufacturing activity is carried out in such packing, repacking and labelling of spare parts of earthmoving equipment, the said premises were not required to be registered with the Central Excise department and therefore no payment of central excise duty was made. 2.4 The present dispute is in relation to the activities undertaken at the Central warehouse, where the activity of packing, re-packing and labelling was carried out by the appellant. The appellant had procured spare parts of earthmoving equipment from abroad/local independent vendors, and then packed, labelled with requisite details including MRP and affix the logo of the appellant' company. Thereafter, the spare parts so packed are sold in the market or directly to industrial customers. Since the spare parts are not manufactured by the appellant-assessee, but merely packed and sold, no excise duty was paid on the same by them during the period of dispute from October, 2006 to 28.04.2010. However, the department did not agree with such view and initiated show cause proceedings to demand excise duty on r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le Supreme Court had set aside the order of the Tribunal dated 08.11.2013 confirming the duty demands raised by the department and remanded the case for consideration of the issues under dispute by constitution of Larger Bench. The relevant paragraph of the said judgement is extracted below: "5. In view of the above, without further entering into the merits of the case and/or expressing anything on merits in favour of either parties, we set aside the impugned judgment and order passed by the Mumbai Bench Tribunal. We remand the matter/Appeal to the Tribunal to be heard along with Excise Appeal Nos. E/791-793/2012 and Appeal Nos. E/1161/2011 and E/2968/2011 and to be heard by the larger Bench to be constituted by the President of the Tribunal, as per the order passed by the Chandigarh Bench Tribunal dated 01.08.2016 and the issues which are referred to the larger Bench. 6. We direct the President of the Tribunal to constitute the larger Bench within a period of 4 weeks from the date of receipt of the present order and thereafter to finally decide and dispose of the issues referred to the larger Bench, referred to hereinabove, at the earliest, preferably, within a period o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pellant started discharging the excise duty on activity of packing / re-packing and affixing MRP undertaken on spare parts at warehouse, on the basis of MRP-based assessment. This was also confirmed by the jurisdictional Commissioner of Central Excise, Nagpur vide their letter dated 07.01.2014 submitting therewith the verification report dated 30.12.2013 received from the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise Division-II, Nagpur that the appellant is discharging the Central Excise duty on MRP basis. 6. We find that the Larger Bench has deliberated on the core issue of dispute, whether the earthmoving equipment etc. can be considered as automobiles in the case of respondent-JCB India Limited itself. Larger Bench has also considered various decisions in this regard and the Circular issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and concluded as follows: "84. The Motor Vehicles Act 1988 uses the term "motor vehicle" and does not refer to "automobile". It deals with the requirement of vehicles to be registered under the Motor Vehicles Act. The definition of "motor vehicles in the Motor Vehicles Act cannot, therefore, be applied to ascertain the meaning of "automobiles" ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al (ii) Various dictionaries have defined the expression "automobile" to mean a car or goods carrier, and (iii) The amendment made in the Third Schedule w.e.f. 29.04.2010 and the clarification given by the Ministry of Finance on 28.02.2011 make it clear that duty would be payable on parts and components of earth moving machines only w.e.f. 29.04.2010. 89. What follows from the aforesaid discussion is that the earth moving machines involved in the present appeals are not "automobiles". It would not be appropriate to borrow the meaning of the word "automobile" or motor vehicle under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 or the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act. 1981 merely because the word "automobile" has not been defined in the Central Excise Act, Central Excise Tariff Act or the Notifications issued by the Central Government. In such a situation, it would be appropriate to refer to the dictionaries to find out a general sense in which the word "automobile" is understood in common parlance. Automobiles, therefore, are conveyances for transportation of passengers and goods on road as also been understood by the department in the various Circulars issued from time to time. Seri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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