Classification of poultry keeping machinery parts under Heading 84369100 upheld; duty, interest and penalty based on Chapter 73 failed.

Welded wire mesh and poultry-farm components such as battery cages, poultry tops, bottoms and partitions supplied for poultry keeping machinery were treated as parts of machinery rather than articles of iron or steel. The post-2005 8-digit tariff structure was applied, and prior Tribunal reasoning was followed to place such goods under Heading 84369100 rather than Chapter 73. On that classification, the duty demand, interest and penalty based on Heading 73 could not stand.

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Issues: Whether welded wire mesh and other poultry-farm components were correctly classifiable under Chapter Heading 84369100 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 or under Chapter Heading 73, and whether the duty demand, interest and penalty based on the contrary classification could survive.

Analysis: The goods in dispute were battery cages, poultry top, poultry bottom and poultry partition supplied for poultry keeping machinery. The earlier view classifying similar goods under Heading 7314 was not treated as controlling for the present tariff structure, and the issue had already been examined in detail in a prior decision of the Tribunal. That decision held that, in the post-2005 8-digit tariff regime, parts of poultry keeping machinery specifically fall within Heading 84369100. Applying the same reasoning, the goods were found to be parts of poultry keeping machinery and not merely articles of iron or steel under Heading 73.

Conclusion: The correct classification is Heading 84369100 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. The duty demand, interest and penalty founded on classification under Heading 73 were unsustainable, and the appeal succeeded.

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