Sports goods exemption narrowly construed: synthetic indoor flooring treated as ancillary material, not qualifying for exemption.

Continuous synthetic flooring used for indoor games was examined against an exemption limited to "sports goods" under Notification No. 6/2006-C.E. The analysis distinguishes sports goods from sports requisites and notes that a Board circular treating synthetic tracks and artificial surfaces as sports requisites under a different customs notification could not expand the narrower excise exemption. Because the goods were flooring material used for games, and the notification did not expressly cover sports requisites or ancillary surfaces, they did not qualify for exemption. The denial of additional duty exemption was therefore upheld.

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Issues: Whether continuous synthetic flooring material used for indoor games qualifies as "sports goods" for the purpose of exemption under S. No. 74 of Notification No. 6/2006-C.E.

Analysis: The imported goods were synthetic flooring sheets used for covering indoor sports floors. The Board's circular relied upon by the appellant treated synthetic tracks and artificial surfaces as sports requisites for the purpose of Notification No. 146/94-Cus., which exempts sports goods, sports equipments and sports requisites. The exemption claimed in the present case, however, was under Notification No. 6/2006-C.E., which extends only to sports goods. A sports requisite is not the same as sports goods, and the material in question, being flooring used for games, could not be brought within the narrower expression used in the central excise notification.

Conclusion: The goods were not entitled to exemption under S. No. 74 of Notification No. 6/2006-C.E., and the denial of additional duty exemption was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification grants relief only to sports goods, goods that are merely sports requisites or ancillary flooring material do not qualify unless the notification expressly covers such requisites.

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