Bitumenised kraft paper as manufacture: binding precedent upheld excisability and sustained duty classification.

Bitumenising kraft paper was treated as manufacture, and the resulting product remained excisable under Tariff Item 17(2). The Tribunal regarded the issue as no longer open because the Supreme Court had already held that bitumenised kraft paper is the product of manufacture and is liable to duty. Applying that binding precedent, it rejected the assessee's contrary contention and sustained the Revenue's position on classification and duty liability.

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Issues: Whether the process of bitumenising kraft paper amounts to manufacture and renders the product excisable under Tariff Item 17(2).

Analysis: The issue was treated as no longer res integra because the Supreme Court had already held that bitumenised kraft paper is the result of manufacture and is liable to duty, thereby settling the legal position against the assessee. The Tribunal followed that binding decision and declined to take a different view on the same product and process.

Conclusion: The process amounted to manufacture and the resulting bitumenised kraft paper was excisable; the finding was against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The demand and classification were sustained by applying the governing Supreme Court precedent.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Supreme Court has already determined that bitumenising kraft paper amounts to manufacture, the same process and product remain excisable and the contrary view cannot be sustained.

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