Exemption for utensils denied where trays, tubs and buckets were treated as containers, not vessels for cooking or serving food.

For exemption under Notification No. 244/77-CE, welded trays, wire tiffin, tubs, buckets and similar dabbas were held not to be "utensils" because they were merely containers, boxes or receptacles for carrying, storing or temporarily holding items. The ordinary meaning of utensils was confined to vessels used in cooking or serving food or drink, not to trays, tins, tubs or buckets. The broader view treating such articles as utensils was rejected, and the exemption claim failed.

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Issues: Whether welded trays, wire tiffin, tubs, buckets and various dabbas were utensils within the meaning of Notification No. 244/77-CE so as to qualify for exemption.

Analysis: The goods in question were found to be containers, boxes or receptacles used for carrying, storing or temporarily holding food and other items, rather than vessels ordinarily associated with cooking or domestic kitchen use. On the ordinary meaning of "utensils", the expression was held to denote vessels used in connection with the preparation or serving of food or drink, and not trays, tins, boxes, tubs or buckets. The appellate authority's broader view that such articles could still be treated as utensils was rejected.

Conclusion: The goods were not utensils within the notification and were not entitled to exemption.

Final Conclusion: The exemption claim failed and the order granting it was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purpose of an exemption notification, articles that are merely containers, boxes or receptacles for carrying or storing items are not "utensils" unless they fall within the ordinary meaning of vessels used for cooking or serving food.

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