Industrial trolley for milking machine is not furniture; it falls under the residual excise tariff item.

A tubular trolley used as an attachment for a milking machine was held not to be furniture under Tariff Item 40 because it was designed only as a mobile industrial base for shifting equipment in dairy operations and did not provide comfort or convenience to human beings. The reasoning distinguished trolleys used for domestic or office convenience, which may resemble furniture, from a trolley serving purely industrial movement of machinery. On that basis, the trolley was classifiable as a machine part or residual item under Tariff Item 68, not as furniture under Tariff Item 40.

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Issues: Whether a tubular trolley used as an attachment for a milking machine is classifiable as furniture under Tariff Item 40 or as a machine part under Tariff Item 68 of the erstwhile Central Excise Tariff.

Analysis: The trolley was intended for use in the dairy industry as a mobile base for shifting the milking machine between cattle and the cowshed. It was not designed to provide comfort or convenience to human beings and did not answer the ordinary concept of furniture. The classification adopted in the cited case concerning trolleys for air coolers, which served domestic or office convenience, was found inapplicable. The more apt reasoning was that a trolley serving industrial movement of equipment, rather than furnishing human premises, could not be treated as furniture.

Conclusion: The tubular trolley falls under Tariff Item 68 and not under Tariff Item 40.

Ratio Decidendi: An attachment used solely as an industrial aid for moving equipment in the course of manufacture or use is not furniture merely because it is mounted on wheels or performs a conveyancing function.

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