Refining used lubricating oil is not manufacture where the essential character remains unchanged and no new commodity emerges.

Purification or refining of used lubricating oil does not amount to manufacture where the process does not change its essential character or create a new and distinct commercial commodity. The Tribunal applied earlier decisions holding that the same principle governed the present facts, so the basis for treating the process as manufacture and sustaining consequential duty liability could not stand. The impugned order was set aside in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the purification or refining of used lubricating oil amounts to manufacture and gives rise to a new dutiable commodity, and whether duty valuation could be sustained on that basis.

Analysis: The Tribunal followed the earlier line of decisions holding that purification of used lubricating oil does not alter its essential character or bring into existence a new and distinct commercial commodity. It accepted that the issue had already been settled in prior decisions and that the ratio applied equally to the present facts. On that basis, the reasoning sustaining manufacture and consequential duty liability could not be maintained.

Conclusion: The process of purification or refining of lubricating oil does not amount to manufacture, and the impugned order was set aside in favour of the assessee.

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