Stenter capacity rules: passive galleries used for ventilation are not qualifying equipment and cannot be counted in production capacity.

For stenter capacity determination, only chambers and equipment actually aiding heat setting or drying are covered by the deeming fiction under the relevant rules. Empty galleries attached to the stenter, used only to collect fumes and expel them through chimneys for pollution control, do not perform the heating or drying function and cannot be treated as chambers or qualifying equipment. A passive gallery that merely prevents heat loss is outside the Explanation, so its length could not be included in annual production capacity. The inclusion of the galleries was therefore unsustainable, and the assessee's appeal succeeded.

---

---

Issues: Whether the galleries attached to a hot air stenter are to be treated as chambers or as equipment aiding the process of heat setting or drying for determining annual production capacity under the relevant rules.

Analysis: The annual capacity under the rules is determined with reference to the number and size of chambers in the stenter, and the deeming fiction in Explanation I applies only where a float-drying machine or an equipment of like nature is installed or attached and actually aids the process of heat setting or drying of fabrics. The galleries in question were found to be empty spaces with no rails, fan or radiator attached, used for collecting fumes and expelling them through chimneys to prevent pollution. Such galleries do not perform the function of heat setting or drying and cannot be equated with equipment contemplated by the Explanation. The contrary view that a gallery preventing heat loss is an equipment within the Explanation was held to be incorrect.

Conclusion: The galleries attached to the stenter are not includible for capacity determination, and the order including their length was unsustainable. The appeal succeeds in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: For capacity determination under the stenter rules, only chambers and equipment actually aiding heat setting or drying fall within the deeming fiction; a passive gallery used for ventilation or pollution control is not such equipment.

---