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TMI Blog1995 (4) TMI 59X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ahai, J.] - This appeal under Section 35L of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 raises the question whether disinfectant fluids manufactured by the appellant were entitled to exemption under Notification No. 55/75-C.E., dated 1-3-1975, as amended by Notification No. 62/78, dated 1-3-1978. 2.Notification No. 55/75-C.E. reads as under :- "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-rule (1) of rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, the Central Government hereby exempts goods of the description specified in the Schedule annexed hereto, and falling under Item No. 68 of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 (1 of 1944), from the whole of the duty of excise leviable thereon. THE SCHEDULE 1. All kinds of food produ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... her found that these were being referred to and marketed as disinfectants and that the preparations in question were capable of killing various bacteria and fungi, but it refused to extend the benefit of the exemption notification as the notification being confined to specified categories, the appellant was not entitled to claim exemption by extension of the principle that since the goods produced by the appellant satisfied the broad test of killing [insects], it should be held to be pesticides or fungicides. According to the Tribunal, the exemption notification being meant to cover particular formulation with well-defined uses and especially for killing insects, they cannot be equated or interpreted to include disinfectants which are prepa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e used to disinfect or to destroy the germs of infectious and contagious diseases'. In the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English `disinfectant' is defined as `a commercially produced chemical liquid that destroys germs'. In Encyclopedia Britanica, Volume 4, it is explained to mean, `any substance, such as creosote or alcohol, applied to inanimate objects to kill micro-organisms. Disinfectants and antiseptics are alike in that both are germicidal, but antiseptics are applied primarily to living tissue. The ideal disinfectant would rapidly destroy bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoans, would not be corrosive to surgical instruments, and would not destroy or discolour materials on which it is used. It thus cannot be disputed that a d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pest, insect, rodent, nematode, fungus, weed, other forms of terrestrial or aquatic plants or other forms of animal life e.g., viruses, bacteria, or other micro-organisms, which the administrator declares to be a pest and (2) any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant or desiccant [Pesticides in the Indian Environment, by P.K. Gupta p. 2]. 7.`Fungicide' inhibits growth or destroys fungi pathogonic to man or other animals or inanimate surfaces. The appellant had imported tar acid to manufacture insecticide, pesticide and fungicide. The Director General had permitted import for this purpose. In the letter written by the appellant claiming exemption, it was stated that disinfectant fluids manufactu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nsideration is whether it should be construed broadly or narrowly. One of the settled principles of construction of an exemption notification is that it should be construed strictly, but once a [good] is found to satisfy the test by which it falls in the exemption notification then it cannot be excluded from it by resorting to applying or construing such notification narrowly. Item 18 is an exemption notification. As stated earlier, it mentions broad categories of goods which are entitled to exemption. Once a [good] is found to fall even narrowly in any of these categories, there appears no justification to exclude it. The test of strict construction of exemption notification applies at the entry, that is, whether a particular goods is capa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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