Common parlance test for furniture excluded specialised plant tool cabinets from the steel furniture tariff entry.

Tool cabinets specially designed for use within an industrial plant were not classifiable as steel furniture under Item 40 of the Central Excise Tariff. The governing test was common parlance and trade parlance: an article qualifies as furniture only if it is ordinarily understood as a movable item of convenience or decoration used in a house, office, or similar setting. Specialised goods fabricated for plant functions, lacking commercial identity as ordinary furniture, do not enter the furniture category merely because they are made of steel or resemble cabinets. On that basis, the goods were held outside Item 40 and the departmental classification and duty demand failed.

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Issues: Whether the tool cabinets manufactured for use within the plant were classifiable as steel furniture under Item 40 of the Central Excise Tariff, or whether they fell outside that entry.

Analysis: The decisive test was whether the goods answered the description of furniture in common parlance and trade parlance. Goods specially designed for an industrial establishment, fabricated to meet special functions, and not intended for ordinary use as movable furniture in a house, office or similar setting do not cease to be outside the furniture entry merely because they are made of steel or resemble storage cabinets. The earlier broad view of Item 40 was reconsidered in light of later judicial guidance, and the special design, use within the plant, and lack of commercial identity as ordinary furniture were treated as material factors.

Conclusion: The tool cabinets were not classifiable as steel furniture under Item 40 and the appeal succeeded.

Final Conclusion: On the governing classification test, the impugned goods were held to be outside the furniture entry, with the result that the departmental classification and consequential duty demand could not stand.

Ratio Decidendi: For classification as furniture, an article must be understood in common parlance as a movable item of convenience or decoration used as ordinary furniture, and goods specially fabricated for specialised industrial functions are not furniture merely because they are made of steel or resemble cabinets.

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