Exemption exclusion for plugs and sockets turns on functional character, but a cable assembly with a connector may still qualify.

An exemption under Notification No. 160/86-C.E. was denied for coaxial connectors, I.C. sockets and a 1 mm PCB mounting socket because their catalogue descriptions and functional character brought them within the exclusion for plugs and sockets of all kinds. Mere nomenclature was insufficient to avoid the exclusion where the goods were in substance socket or plug-type items. By contrast, a patch cord described as a cable with a connector or socket at one end for daisy-chain use was treated as a cable assembly, not a socket, and therefore remained eligible for exemption.

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Issues: (i) Whether Co-axial Connectors (RF), I.C. Sockets and Socket 1 mm PCB Mounting P8001 were excluded from exemption under Notification No. 160/86-C.E. dated 1-3-1986 as plugs or sockets of all kinds; (ii) Whether Patch Cord 1 mm P8006 was likewise excluded from the notification as a socket.

Issue (i): Whether Co-axial Connectors (RF), I.C. Sockets and Socket 1 mm PCB Mounting P8001 were excluded from exemption under Notification No. 160/86-C.E. dated 1-3-1986 as plugs or sockets of all kinds.

Analysis: The exclusion clause against Sl. No. 13 of the Table annexed to the notification covered plugs and sockets of all kinds. The catalogue descriptions of the disputed items showed them to be sockets or plug-type goods, and the mere manner of nomenclature could not take them out of the exclusion where their description and use brought them within the class of excluded goods.

Conclusion: The three items were excluded from exemption and the finding of the Collector (Appeals) on this point was set aside in favour of Revenue.

Issue (ii): Whether Patch Cord 1 mm P8006 was likewise excluded from the notification as a socket.

Analysis: The Patch Cord was described as a cable with a connector or socket at one end for daisy-chain applications and as an item available in different lengths. It was not a mere socket, and its functional character distinguished it from the excluded class of sockets of all kinds.

Conclusion: Patch Cord 1 mm P8006 was not excluded from exemption and the finding of the Collector (Appeals) on this point was upheld in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded in part, with the exclusion under the notification applied to the connector and socket items, but not to the patch cord item.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification excludes plugs and sockets of all kinds, goods whose description and functional character show them to be sockets or plug-type items fall within the exclusion, but an item that is only a cable assembly with a connector or socket at one end is not necessarily a socket for that purpose.

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