Manufacture test applied to printed and cut paper biri wrappers: commercially distinct product found liable to excise.

Printing plain paper with customer-specific particulars, designs, trade marks and statutory details, followed by cutting it to size for use as biri wrappers, constitutes manufacture because the process produces a commercially distinct article with a different name, use and character from the original paper. Applying the settled test of manufacture, the resultant wrapper is a new commercially known commodity intended for a specific end use, rather than merely printed paper. The activity is therefore treated as manufacture and attracts Central Excise levy.

---

---

Issues: Whether printing of plain paper and cutting it to size to make biri wrappers amounts to manufacture.

Analysis: The majority held that the activity was not confined to mere printing. The plain paper supplied by customers was printed with particulars, designs, trade marks and statutory details, and was then cut into sizes for use as biri wrappers. The resultant article was commercially identifiable as a different product, with a different name, use and character from the original paper. Applying the settled test of manufacture, the process brought into existence a new commercially known commodity intended for a specific end use and not merely printed paper.

Conclusion: The activity amounts to manufacture and attracts Central Excise levy.

Ratio Decidendi: Where plain paper is printed with customer-specific particulars and thereafter cut into sizes so that the resultant article becomes a commercially distinct wrapper with a specific use, the process constitutes manufacture for excise purposes.

---