Residuary customs tariff entry excluded where steel culverts fit the specific category for bridge-like structures.

Imported corrugated steel culverts were analysed as fabricated iron or steel structures used in road works, and therefore as falling within the specific tariff entry for structures for bridges and similar structures rather than the residuary entry. The note applies strict construction of taxing entries and the principle of ejusdem generis to treat culverts as analogous to bridge structures within the same genus. It also states that a residuary item cannot be used where a specific entry reasonably covers the goods, and that prior departmental practice supported this construction.

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Issues: Whether the imported corrugated steel culverts were correctly assessable under Item 63(28) of the Indian Customs Tariff as a residuary entry, or whether they fell within Item 63(9) as iron or steel structures for bridges and similar structures.

Analysis: Item 63(28) was a residuary provision and could be invoked only when no specific entry applied. Item 63(9) covered iron or steel structures fabricated from bars, sections, plates or sheets for construction of buildings, bridges and similar structures. The culverts were fabricated steel structures used for road drainage and load-bearing road works. In common parlance and in engineering usage, a culvert could be treated as a bridge structure, and even otherwise it fell within the expression "similar structures" on the principle of ejusdem generis. A taxing entry had to be construed strictly, and the Customs authorities could not avoid the specific entry by an unduly narrow reading limited to bridges alone. The earlier departmental practice treating similar articles under Item 63(9) reinforced the correctness of that construction, though the decision ultimately rested on the legal meaning of the tariff entries.

Conclusion: The goods were not exigible under Item 63(28) and should have been assessed under Item 63(9); the assessment was unsustainable and liable to be set aside.

Final Conclusion: The assessment was quashed and the Customs authorities were directed to reassess the goods under the specific tariff item applicable to steel structures for bridges and similar structures, with refund of any excess duty found payable after such reassessment.

Ratio Decidendi: A residuary tariff entry cannot be used where the goods reasonably fall within a specific entry, and words such as "bridges and similar structures" in a taxing statute must be construed to include analogous structures falling within the same genus.

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