Emptied reusable containers are not scrap under excise law, so duty as scrap and related credit denial fail.

Emptied metal containers or barrels used for receipt of inputs do not become scrap merely because their contents have been removed; if they remain reusable as containers, they fall outside scrap treatment under Rule 57F and Note 6(a) to Section XVI. On that settled view, duty could not be levied on the containers as scrap, and Modvat credit in relation to such containers was not disturbed. The discussion applies the earlier identical-facts reasoning and treats the issue as no longer open on the same material.

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Issues: Whether emptied metal containers/drums used for receipt of inputs could be treated as scrap under Rule 57F of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 so as to attract duty, and whether Modvat credit was admissible in respect of such containers.

Analysis: The Tribunal noted that the controversy had already been decided in the assessee's own earlier case. The cited reasoning treated emptied barrels as continuing to remain barrels and not as scrap within the meaning of Note 6(a) to Section XVI of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. It further held that such emptied barrels were not scrap under Rule 57F(4)/57F(5), and the matter was no longer res integra. Following that settled view, the present appeal raised no surviving substance.

Conclusion: The containers could not be treated as scrap for duty purposes, and the Revenue's challenge to Modvat credit failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was rejected by following the earlier binding view on identical facts, leaving the assessee's entitlement undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: An emptied container that remains reusable as a container does not become scrap merely because its contents have been removed, and therefore cannot be subjected to duty as scrap under Rule 57F.

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