Excise duty on structurals turns on identifiable manufactured goods and marketability; Tribunal remanded for factual reassessment.

Structurals under Tariff Item 73.08 were held assessable to excise duty only if, on the facts of each appeal, they constituted new identifiable goods emerging from manufacture or process and were marketable. The Supreme Court stressed that the Tribunal had to examine these factual requirements case by case and could not assume that structurals were not exigible merely because they were structurals covered by the tariff entry. Because the Tribunal failed to analyse the facts in any appeal, its order was set aside and the matters were remanded for fresh disposal under the correct legal test, with liberty to adduce further evidence and raise all contentions.

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Issues: Whether structurals falling under Tariff Item 73.08 of the Central Excise Tariff could be treated as exigible to excise duty only if they were new identifiable goods resulting from manufacture or process and were marketable, and whether the Tribunal erred in deciding the appeals without examining the facts of each case.

Analysis: Tariff Item 73.08 specifically covered structures and parts of structures. The correct approach was for the Tribunal to determine, on the facts of each appeal, whether the structurals were new identifiable goods emerging from manufacture or process and whether they were marketable. Only if those factual requirements were satisfied could excise duty be attracted. The Tribunal failed to examine the facts of even one appeal and proceeded on the erroneous assumption that structurals were not exigible to duty despite the tariff entry covering them.

Conclusion: The Tribunal's order could not stand. It was set aside and the appeals were remanded to the Tribunal for fresh disposal in accordance with the correct legal test, with liberty to the parties to raise all contentions and adduce additional evidence.

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