TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1987 (4) TMI 204
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....nufacturers had asked for their classification as bars under Tariff Item No. 26AA(ia). 2. The Collector (Appeals) wrote an excellent order in which all the points of dispute have been discussed thoroughly; it is hardly necessary to go anywhere else to understand the dispute. By his order No. 126 to 144-CE/CHG/85, dated 23-2-1985 he approved the assessment made by the Assistant Collector and Rule d that the products were assessable as hoops. He was fair enough however, to record that at the relevant time there was no definition in the tariff for different iron and steel products and, therefore, the issue in question would have to be decided by taking into account the meaning of these terms as they were understood in the trade, althou....
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....s plates and sheets are products of flat/strips mill. The learned Councel also pointed out that the Collector of Central Excise, New Delhi also in his order No. V/26AA(2)/41/CE/67, dated 15-2-1967 re: Jai Bharat Iron and Steel Rolling Mill held that the nature of the mill was a criterion to decide the nature of the product manufactured. The Deputy Collector of Central Excise, Amritsar came to the same conclusion in his order No. 2-CE/84, dated 14-2-1984 holding that classification of a product as strip depended on the nature of the mill through which it is rolled. And in a very detailed order, the Assistant Collector of Central Excise, Aurangabad in order No, V/26AA(17)-49/78/8390, dated 11-11-1980 wrote to the same effect and said that the....
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....ts. 3. tobacco barrel hogshead hoop, and 4. special hoop for special packages. Hoop is made either by slitting coiled strip rolled in multiple width, into narrow coiled strip of the desired width; or, from narrow coiled strip with a hot-rolled or mill edge. The type and width of hoop being produced influences the choice of the method used. 5. The method of production of the products in question is not one of the methods listed in this authoritative work for hoops. These so called hoops were not produced by slitting coiled strip nor rolled from narrow colled strip, with hot rolled or mill edge. 6. A little later down, the article says "Hoop is produced as 'curled hoop' or 'a straight length'. Curled hoop is made by a....
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....he trade. The IS quoted and relied upon by the Collector (reproduced at page 3) lists Hoop as baling, hoop iron. Since these are not baling hoops, the IS has been incorrectly used. 9. We have seen that the Board has said, at one time, that the mill in which the goods are produced must be taken into account and when we do so, these goods are disqualified from being classed as hoops. The learned Collector says that the nature or type of mill cannot by itself be the determining factor of the issue in dispute. The phraseology and scope of the tariff entry itself and trade practices terminology well-recognised standard national and international literature should be taken into account. But we can find nothing in support of the department....
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....ment of the goods below 3 mm in thickness as bars without distinction as to the width. But it is unnecessary to go into the correctness of the instructions nor into the complaint by the Councel for the manufacturers that the department kept changing its assessment definitions. We agree that classification should be done with more consistency and more coherence than it has been. However that may be, all that have gone before were departmental instructions and directions, the bases for which are unclear; perhaps this is the reason for the frequent changes, since the definitions had no fixed or recognized bases. 12. The definition dimensions of these products are "arbitrary" in the sense that they are man-made and were laid down for th....