Manufacturing waste and scrap of telecommunication cables are not excisable absent an express tariff entry.

Waste and scrap arising from manufacture are not excisable unless the tariff expressly brings such waste or scrap within the charge. Applying the earlier Tribunal ruling in the assessee's own case, the CEGAT held that scrap of jelly-filled telecommunication cables could not be classified for duty merely by reference to the constituent copper or aluminium, because the relevant cable tariff contained no specific entry for such scrap. The mixed mass of metal and insulating material, as presented, also did not satisfy the tariff description of scrap under Chapters 74, 76 or 85. The interpretative rules on mixture and essential character did not change that result.

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Issues: Whether waste and scrap arising from jelly-filled telecommunication cables are excisable goods and, if not, whether they can nevertheless be classified for duty under the tariff headings applicable to copper or aluminium scrap.

Analysis: Waste generated in the course of manufacture is not automatically excisable; duty applies only where the tariff specifically brings such waste or scrap within the charge. The earlier Tribunal decision in the assessee's own case had held that waste and scrap of wires and cables were not excisable goods because the tariff for wires and cables contained no specific entry for such scrap, and therefore no question of classification arose. That reasoning was held to govern the present dispute as well, and the contrary view that the earlier decision was sub silentio was rejected. The form in which the goods were presented for assessment also mattered: the scrap consisted of unserviceable cable remnants in a mixed mass of metal and insulating material, and in that form it did not answer the description of scrap under the chapters relating to copper or aluminium. The interpretative rules regarding mixture and essential character did not alter the result.

Conclusion: The waste and scrap of jelly-filled telecommunication cables were held not to be excisable goods and no duty classification under Chapters 74, 76 or 85 was sustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Waste and scrap arising from manufacture are chargeable to excise duty only if the tariff expressly covers such waste or scrap, and where the goods as presented do not answer the tariff description for scrap, no classification for duty can be made on the basis of constituent material alone.

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