Non-excisable waste treatment for broken glazed tiles where no specific tariff entry existed and sale value alone was insufficient.

Broken glazed tiles generated in the manufacturing process were treated as non-excisable waste, because they had no specific tariff heading as waste material and did not retain the identity or marketability of prime glazed tiles. The Tribunal held that a mere sale value, including sale by weight or auction, was insufficient to bring such broken tiles within the residuary tariff entry. They were accordingly entitled to treatment as waste matter under Rule 50, and the Department's appeals were rejected.

---

---

Issues: Whether broken pieces of glazed tiles and waste/scrap glazed tiles were excisable goods classifiable under the residuary tariff entry, or were non-excisable waste matter entitled to the benefit of Rule 50 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944.

Analysis: The Tribunal distinguished authority dealing with waste and scrap of metals and other articles where a specific tariff entry existed, and also distinguished cases involving broken glass. It held that broken glazed tiles arise in the course of manufacture but do not thereby acquire the character of excisable goods. Marketability was treated as relevant, but the evidence showed that broken tiles were sold only as waste material, by weight and by auction, and were not comparable to prime glazed tiles. In the absence of any specific tariff heading for broken glazed tiles as waste material, the residuary entry could not be invoked merely because the broken tiles fetched some value.

Conclusion: Broken glazed tiles were held to be non-excisable and entitled to treatment as waste matter under Rule 50; the Department's appeals were rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a manufactured product emerges as broken waste material without a specific tariff entry and lacks the same identity and marketability as the prime product, it cannot be treated as excisable goods under a residuary entry merely because it has some sale value.

---