Exemption for aluminium strips denied where duty-paid wire rods were not treated as aluminium in any crude form.

Aluminium strips manufactured from duty-paid aluminium wire rods were held not entitled to exemption under Notification No. 46/70-C.E. because wire rods were not treated as "aluminium in any crude form". The tariff scheme distinguished aluminium in crude form from wire bars, wire rods and castings as separate categories, so the notification could not be extended to strips made from wire rods. On that construction, the exemption claim failed and the revision application was rejected.

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Issues: Whether aluminium strips manufactured from duty-paid aluminium wire rods were entitled to the exemption under Notification No. 46/70-C.E. dated 01-03-1970 on the footing that wire rods fell within the expression "aluminium in any crude form".

Analysis: The notification was construed along with the tariff entry, which treated aluminium in any crude form as one category and wire bars, wire rods and castings as a distinct category. On that construction, wire rods were not regarded as aluminium in any crude form. As the input used by the petitioners was duty-paid aluminium wire rods, the exemption claimed for the strips manufactured from such rods was not available.

Conclusion: The exemption was held inapplicable and the revision application was rejected.

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