Tariff classification follows binding precedent for aqueous phenol formaldehyde solution, excluding it from the disputed excise item.

Aqueous Solution of Phenol Formaldehyde, for the period before the 1 March 1982 amendment to Tariff Item 15A, was held not to fall within Tariff Item 15A(1) of the Central Excise Tariff. The classification issue was treated as governed by an earlier Delhi High Court decision covering the same commodity and the same pre-amendment period, so the same tariff treatment had to follow that binding ruling. On that basis, the product could not be brought within the tariff item concerned, and the appeal succeeded.

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Issues: Whether Aqueous Solution of Phenol Formaldehyde, for the period prior to amendment of Tariff Item 15A on 1-3-1982, was classifiable under Tariff Item 15A(1) of the Central Excise Tariff.

Analysis: The product and the relevant period were treated as identical to those considered by the Delhi High Court in an earlier decision. That decision covered the same commodity and the same pre-amendment period, and the question of classification in the present appeal was accepted as being governed by that ruling.

Conclusion: Aqueous Solution of Phenol Formaldehyde at the material time was not classifiable under Tariff Item 15A(1) of the Central Excise Tariff, and the appeal succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a product is covered by a prior binding decision on the same commodity and the same pre-amendment period, its classification must follow that decision and cannot be brought within the tariff item concerned.

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