Concessional duty for copper winding wires applies even when manufacture passes through an intermediate bare-wire stage.

Concessional duty under Notification No. 47/84 applies to winding enamelled copper wires made from copper wire rods on which appropriate duty has been paid, even where manufacture passes through an intermediate bare-wire stage. The notification does not require direct and immediate manufacture from the rods unless it says so expressly. Where bare copper wire is the necessary intermediate product derived from duty-paid wire rods, the statutory condition is treated as satisfied. The notification's explanation also supports a deeming fiction in favour of duty-paid rods, and the burden does not shift to the assessee unless the department shows that the rods were non-duty paid.

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Issues: Whether winding enamelled copper wires were entitled to concessional duty under Notification No. 47/84 where the final wires were made from bare copper wires produced as an intermediate stage from copper wire rods.

Analysis: Serial No. 1(i) of the table attached to Notification No. 47/84 granted concessional duty to winding wires made of copper, subject to the condition that they were made from copper wire rods on which the appropriate duty had been paid. The condition did not require that the final enamelled wires must be made directly and immediately from wire rods. Since bare copper wires were the necessary intermediate product obtained from wire rods and the final winding wires were manufactured through that stage, the statutory condition was treated as satisfied. The explanation to the notification also created a deeming fiction in favour of duty-paid wire rods, and the burden was not on the assessee to prove duty payment unless the department established that the rods were non-duty paid.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the concessional rate of duty under Notification No. 47/84.

Ratio Decidendi: A concession available to winding wires made from duty-paid copper wire rods cannot be denied merely because manufacture passes through an intermediate bare-wire stage, unless the notification expressly requires direct manufacture from rods.

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