Specific tariff entry prevails for processed pipes and tubes used as transmission poles; residuary classification was rejected.

Transmission and lighting poles made from iron and steel pipes or tubes remained classifiable under the specific tariff entry for pipes and tubes because their essential commercial identity was unchanged by processing into stepped or swaged poles. Their use in electric transmission and the trade description as "poles" did not justify resort to the residuary entry, which applies only when goods cannot reasonably fit a specific heading. Consistent departmental assessment and exemption practice under the specific entry were treated as relevant contemporaneous exposition supporting that construction.

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Issues: Whether transmission and lighting poles manufactured from iron and steel pipes or tubes were classifiable under Item 26AA of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, or under the residuary Item 68.

Analysis: Item 26AA was wide enough to include pipes and tubes of all sorts, including those obtained by forging, drawing and other processes. The poles manufactured by the assessee were formed by processing pipes or tubes into stepped or swaged poles, but the essential character of the goods remained that of pipes or tubes assembled in different forms. Their use for transmission of electric energy did not make them commercially distinct from pipes and tubes, and the mere adoption of a different trade description as "poles" was insufficient to exclude them from the specific tariff entry. The consistent departmental practice of assessing such goods under Item 26AA and issuing exemption notifications on that basis was a relevant contemporaneous exposition supporting that construction. A residuary entry could be invoked only if the goods could not reasonably be brought within a specific entry.

Conclusion: The goods were correctly classifiable under Item 26AA and not under Item 68, and the demand based on Item 68 was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where goods reasonably fall within a specific tariff entry, they cannot be shifted to a residuary entry merely because they are marketed under a different description or undergo processing that does not alter their essential commercial identity; contemporaneous administrative construction is a relevant aid to interpretation.

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