Cinder from coal burning is not dutiable when the process does not amount to manufacture, even if it can be used or sold.

Cinder obtained by burning coal in a factory boiler is not dutiable where the process does not amount to manufacture. The Tribunal relied on its earlier decision, approved by the Apex Court, that mere generation of cinder during boiler use does not create excisable goods, even if the cinder can be used to fill road pits or sold. The operative principle is that useability or marketability alone does not make the cinder dutiable absent manufacture.

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Issues: Whether cinder obtained by burning coal in the boiler in the factory was dutiable.

Analysis: The Tribunal noted that the dispute was confined to the dutiability of cinder. It relied on its earlier decision, approved by the Apex Court, that obtaining cinder while burning coal in a boiler does not amount to manufacture and that such cinder is not dutiable, even if it may be used to fill pits on roads or sold for a price.

Conclusion: Cinder was held not dutiable.

Ratio Decidendi: Cinder obtained during burning of coal in a boiler in the factory does not become dutiable merely because it is capable of use or sale, where the process does not amount to manufacture.

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