Tariff classification of poster paper stays under Item 17(2); exclusion from one sub-item did not create exemption or invoke residuary entry.

Poster paper remained covered by the main description in Tariff Item 17 as paper of a kind of printing and writing paper; the exclusion from sub-item (1) did not create an exemption, and classification under Tariff Item 17(2) was correct for 16-3-1976 to 18-6-1980. The residuary Tariff Item 68 could not apply from 19-6-1980 because that item operates only for goods not otherwise specified in the First Schedule, and poster paper was already classifiable under Item 17(2). The commentary therefore treats the levy under Tariff Item 17(2) as sustained.

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Issues: (i) Whether poster paper, after the 1976 amendment to Tariff Item 17, was exempt from excise duty for the period 16-3-1976 to 18-6-1980; (ii) whether poster paper fell under Tariff Item 68 from 19-6-1980 after insertion of the Explanation to that item.

Issue (i): Whether poster paper, after the 1976 amendment to Tariff Item 17, was exempt from excise duty for the period 16-3-1976 to 18-6-1980.

Analysis: The main head of Tariff Item 17 covered paper and paper board of all sorts, and poster paper, being a kind of printing and writing paper, remained within that main description. The exclusion of poster paper from sub-item (1) did not operate as an exemption, but only meant that it would not bear the rate applicable to printing and writing paper other than poster paper. It was correctly brought within sub-item (2), which covered all other kinds of paper not elsewhere specified within Item 17. No exemption notification or special order had been issued under the rule-making power.

Conclusion: Poster paper was not exempt from excise duty during the period 16-3-1976 to 18-6-1980, and its classification under Tariff Item 17(2) was correct.

Issue (ii): Whether poster paper fell under Tariff Item 68 from 19-6-1980 after insertion of the Explanation to that item.

Analysis: Tariff Item 68 is residuary and applies only to goods not specified elsewhere in the First Schedule. Since poster paper was already covered by Tariff Item 17(2), the residuary item could not be invoked. The Explanation inserted in 1980 did not alter that position, because the commodity was not left unspecified in the tariff.

Conclusion: Poster paper did not fall under Tariff Item 68 from 19-6-1980.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the excise classification failed, and the levy under Tariff Item 17(2) stood affirmed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a commodity is covered by a specific tariff entry, an exclusion from one sub-item within that entry does not create an exemption or shift the commodity to a residuary item; the residuary item applies only to goods not otherwise specified.

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