Site-fabricated plant structures qualified for tariff classification under Chapter 73 and exemption under the site-construction notification.

Ducts and duct supports fabricated and installed at the plant site for a humidification system were treated as site-fabricated structural items, not as pollution control equipment. The Tribunal held that such goods, forming part of the larger plant structure, fell under Tariff sub-heading 7308.90. It also held that the exemption in Notification No. 61/90 for goods fabricated at site for use in construction work at that site was not confined narrowly to building construction. On that footing, the notification applied and the Revenue's challenge to classification and exemption failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether ducts and duct supports fabricated and installed at the plant site for a humidification system were classifiable as parts of structures under Tariff sub-heading 7308.90 and entitled to exemption under Notification No. 61/90.

Analysis: The Tribunal followed its earlier decision in the assessee's own case and the connected precedent holding that ducts and duct supports used in an installed plant are not pollution control equipment. They are devices forming part of the larger structure of the plant, and when fabricated or manufactured at the site they fall under Chapter 73.08. The notification granting exemption to goods fabricated at the site for use in construction work at such site was held not to be confined narrowly to building construction, and no restrictive meaning could be read into it. As the goods were already found classifiable under 7308.90, the exemption under Notification No. 61/90 applied.

Conclusion: The exemption was rightly extended to the ducts and duct supports, and the Revenue's challenge to the classification and benefit of notification failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal could not succeed, as the disputed goods were treated as exempt site-fabricated structural items falling within the notified tariff entry.

Ratio Decidendi: Goods fabricated and installed at the site, which form part of the plant structure and are classifiable under Tariff sub-heading 7308.90, are eligible for exemption under a notification granting relief to site-fabricated goods used in construction work at the site, and such exemption is not to be confined narrowly to building construction alone.

---