Similar goods under concessional duty notification treated fresh and processed mushrooms as belonging to the same class.

The notification's use of the term "similar" was applied to determine whether fresh mushrooms cleared for home consumption and processed mushrooms exported outside India could be treated as goods of the same class for concessional duty. Separate classification under different chapter headings was not treated as decisive. On that reasoning, the lower authority regarded fresh and processed mushrooms as similar goods for the purpose of the exemption notification, and the denial of concessional duty was not accepted.

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Issues: Whether fresh mushrooms cleared for home consumption and processed mushrooms exported outside India were "similar" goods for the purpose of concessional duty under Notification No. 2/95-C.E. dated 4-1-95.

Analysis: The expression "similar" in the notification was applied to determine whether the goods cleared for home consumption and the exported goods belonged to the same class of goods. The fact that the two products were classifiable under separate chapter headings was not treated as decisive. On the reasoning adopted by the lower authority, fresh mushrooms and processed mushrooms were held to be similar goods for the purpose of the notification.

Conclusion: The goods were held to be similar, and the denial of the concessional rate of duty was not accepted. The appeal was rejected.

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