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TMI Blog1996 (11) TMI 66X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re, mono vertical crystallisers were marketable. The Tribunal ought to have remembered that the record showed that mono vertical crystallisers had, apart from assembly, to be erected and attached by foundations to the earth and, therefore, were not, in any event marketable as they were. Having regard to the material on record, we come to the conclusion that mono vertical crystallisers are not `goods' within the meaning of the Act and therefore, not exigible to excise duty. In favour of assessee. - Civil Appeal No.2919 of 1986 - - - Dated:- 19-11-1996 - S.P. Bharucha and K. Venkataswami, JJ. V. Lakshmikumaran, V. Sridharan and V. Balachandran, Advocates, for the appellant. R. Mohan, Senior Advocate (S.D. Sharma and Ms. Sushma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er sends to the appellants debit notes for their value. A sketch and photograph produced by the appellants before the authorities shows that the mono vertical crystalliser is a tall structure, rather like a tower with a platform at its summit. 3.The appellants were required to show cause why they should not pay excise duty on mono vertical crystallisers cleared from their premises during 1982-83. The Collector, Central Excise, Meerut, confirmed the demand. He held, relying on orders placed by sugar factories with the appellants and the correspondence in that behalf, that the manufacture of a mono vertical crystalliser was complete in all respects at the time of its clearance from the appellants' premises; its delivery in knocked down cond ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s whether mono vertical crystallisers are `goods' upon which excise duty under the provisions of the Act can be levied. 6.In Union of India and Anr. v. Delhi Cloth and General Mills Co. Ltd., 1977 (1) E.L.T. (J 119) (SC) = AIR 1963 S.C. 791, a Constitution Bench considered the application of the provisions of the Act to the hydrogenated oils that are known as `vanaspati'. `Goods' were not defined in the Act. The meaning, as found by the Court from dictionaries, showed "that to become `goods' an article must be something which can ordinarily come to the market to be bought and sold". In Bhor Industries Ltd. Bombay v. Collector of Central Excise, Bombay, 1989 (40) E.L.T. 280 (SC) = 1989 (1) S.C.C. 602, the view taken in the case of Delhi C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ught to the market. Goods which are attached to the earth and thus become immovable and do not satisfy the test of being goods within the meaning of the Act nor it can be said to be capable of being brought to the market for being bought and sold." It was also said that the "erection and installation of a plant cannot be held to be excisable goods. If such wide meaning is assigned it would result in bringing in its ambit structures, erections and installations. That surely would not be in consonance with accepted meaning of excisable goods and its exigibility to duty." 7Learned counsel for Revenue relied upon the. judgment in Narne Tulaman Manufacturers Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad v. Collector of Central Excise, Hyderabad, 1988 (38) E.L.T. 566 ( ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t `goods' within the meaning of the Act was not raised and no evidence in that behalf was brought on record. We cannot assume that weighbridges stand on the same footing as mono vertical crystallisers in that regard and hold that because weighbridges were held to be exigible to excise duty so must mono vertical crystallisers. A decision cannot be relied upon in support of a proposition that it did not decide. 9.Upon the material placed upon record and referred to above, we are in no doubt that the mono vertical crystalliser has to be assembled, erected and attached to the earth by a foundation at the site of the sugar factory. It is not capable of being sold as it is, without anything more. As was stated by this Court in the case of Quali ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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