Exemption for floppy disk drives under Notification No. 40/82 applies where the drives transcribe data onto media in coded form.

Imported floppy disk drives were treated as machines for transcribing data on to data media in coded form, bringing them within Notification No. 40/82 at Sl. No. 2. The Tribunal relied on its earlier consistent view that floppy disk drives themselves perform that function and rejected the narrower departmental interpretation that only a complete floppy disk system qualified for exemption. On that basis, the exemption was available to the imported drives.

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Issues: Whether floppy disk drives imported by the appellants were eligible for the benefit of Notification No. 40/82 at Sl. No. 2 as machines for transcribing data on to data media in coded form.

Analysis: The imported goods were floppy disk drives and the Tribunal noted its earlier decisions holding that floppy disk drives transcribe data on to data media. It also relied on the consistent view taken in prior cases that goods described in the relevant serial number of Notification No. 40/82 were covered by the exemption. On that basis, the Tribunal held that the departmental view restricting the benefit only to a complete floppy disk system was too narrow.

Conclusion: The imported floppy disk drives were held eligible for the benefit of Notification No. 40/82 at Sl. No. 2, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where imported floppy disk drives themselves perform the function of transcribing data on to data media, they fall within an exemption notification covering machines for that purpose.

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