Countervailing duty turns on excise classification of the like article, not the customs tariff entry for import duty.

Countervailing duty under Section 2A depends on whether the imported goods would attract excise duty as a like article if manufactured in India, not on the customs classification applied for import duty. The article explains that goods classified for customs as non-ferrous alloys could still be treated as aluminium rods for countervailing duty if they matched the excise tariff description. On that basis, the imported aluminium rods were liable to countervailing duty because they fell within the relevant excise item, and the customs tariff entry did not control the levy.

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Issues: Whether aluminium rods imported as non-ferrous alloys under the customs tariff could nevertheless be treated as aluminium rods for the purpose of countervailing duty under the excise tariff.

Analysis: The goods were accepted as falling under Item 70(1) of the First Schedule to the Indian Tariff Act, 1934 for customs duty because they contained less than 97 per cent aluminium. The question for countervailing duty under Section 2A, however, was whether the imported article was liable to excise duty on a like article if produced or manufactured in India. The provision required reference to the excise tariff alone, and did not make the customs classification controlling for that purpose. As the imported goods answered the description of aluminium rods under Item 27 of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, countervailing duty was payable.

Conclusion: The levy of countervailing duty was valid and the objection to it failed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was rejected because the customs classification did not govern liability under the countervailing duty provision, which depends on the excise classification of the like article.

Ratio Decidendi: For countervailing duty, the relevant inquiry is the excise classification of the imported article as a like article if manufactured in India, and not the classification adopted for customs duty under the tariff schedule.

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