1987 (5) TMI 142

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....non-consumable stores' interest was payable only if they were kept for more than a year in terms of Section 61(a) of the Customs Act, 1962. The impugned order has allowed the refund to the respondents' mills on the following reasoning :- "In the absence of the specific definition of the term 'non-consumable' one has to take recourse to the definition of 'consumable' in the Import Export Policy. In that Policy 'consumables' have been defined as those which participate in the manufacturing process and as such 'non-consumables' should be the converse i.e. those which are required in the manufacturing process but forming part of the end product. While it is true that the fibre at the end of the manufacturing process gets converted into ya....

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....es' which does not include all the 'non-consumable goods' but is restricted only to the 'non-consumable stores'. The polyester fibre in question may be 'non-consumable goods' but as per the definition given in the Customs Act, it cannot be a non-consumable stores. 'Stores' has been defined in the Customs Act meaning 'goods for use in a vessel or aircraft and includes fuel and spare parts and other articles of equipment, whether or not for immediate fittings'. The word 'non-consumable' is attached to 'store'. The term 'non-consumable stores' referred to in Section 61(a) would, therefore, refer to 'non-consumable goods' for use in a vessel or aircraft and not other goods. Accordingly, the warehoused goods in the instant case can be stored wit....

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.... manifest that the particular word or expression defined by it should be ordinarily understood. Otherwise the very purpose of defining a particular word or expression, the ordinary meaning of which is clear, would be defeated; the definition itself would become redundant. The definition clause makes the intention of the Parliament explicit. That the Parliament intended the word 'India' employed in the Customs Act should be understood as defined is further emphasized by employing the expression 'in this Act unless the context otherwise requires' the word shall mean or include as stated therein." In view of the aforesaid observations the expression 'non-consumable stores' in Section 61(a) has to be interpreted because the word 'stores' has....