TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1988 (3) TMI 268
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....duct produced by the assessees is a strip or not. The Appellate Collector in different orders held that the products were not strips and they should be assessed under 26AA (ia) before 1-8-1983 and under Tariff Item 25(8) after 1-8-1983. The problem for us is compounded by the fact that the Assistant Collector whose orders were impugned before the Appellate Collector sometimes assessed them under Item 26AA(ii) and sometimes under 26AA(iii), and Item 25(12)(1)(9) and (1)(c) or 25(13)(iii)(a) and (b), of the 1.8.1983 tariff. In one order-in-original, the Assistant Collector said the assessment would be according to its width, but he does not say what the width is. Item 25(12) covers hoops and strips while 25(13) covers coils for rerolling, she....
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....f the goods. The opposing counsel agreed that the definitions given in the tariff when they appeared on 1-8-1983 serve as goods reference points. Absence of definition, said the learned counsel, more often leads to confusion and failure of appreciation, and he was therefore all in favour of definition as it provides definitive tests and yard sticks. 3. The learned SDR said that a strip should have an approximate rectangular cross-section; it is not necessary that the dimensions of the cross-section should be exact. Variation can arise since a product that is rolled in a mill is not given exact finish, and slight imperfection or deviation will not detract from an approximate rectangular cross-section. It was not necessary, said the learne....
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....ight on the fact that the goods were not produced in strip mills and that the manufacturers did not have strip mills. Strip mills are very costly and require machinery costing crores of rupees. Furthermore, the value of the goods they produce is around Rs. 25,000/- a tonne whereas strips sell for anything between Rs. 60,000/- to Rs. 70,000/- per tonne. Their goods are used in utensils making, an activity that require not any mechanical skill as the people who make them used only rudimentary tools for their work. Strips on the other hand go into manufacturing like tin plates, tubes, tools, saw blades machinery belting. Their goods come as flat product of uneven thickness and shape. They are never manufactured in coils, nor they cannot even b....
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....oil or flattened coil (straight length) form but excludes hoop and skelp." 9. These goods are not in coil as accepted by all; nor are they flattened coil. The department, however, claimed that they are in straight length. Their interpretation seems to be that a straight flat product is enough for the definition; but this is not a correct understanding. The straight length describes a flattened coil, and is not an independent characteristic by itself of the product. The straight length must result from a flattening of a coil because it is a length that emerges in straight form from a flattened coil. That is, it must be a flattened coil form even though in straight length. There is a world of difference between a flat straight form, and a ....
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....t apply this definition to call the goods strips. 11. We will next take the definition of Harmonised Central Excise Tariff. This tariff defines steel strips as: "Hot or cold-rolled products, rolled approximately in rectangular cross-section of thickness usually 10 mm and below, with milled rolled, trimmed or sheared edges and supplied in coil or flattened coil (straight length) form but excludes hoops and skelps." 12. We know that the goods do not have mill rolled, trimmed or sheared edges and that they are not in coil or flattened coil form. They are just flat rolled products varying in length from 4' to 6' and about 1.5 mm thick. And even though this definition makes no mention of the width, we feel handicapped for want of this i....
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....ducing strips. But we have not been told that this process was adopted. The products at (C) and (D) are cold-rolled; their plane area is in an arc, the right end narrower than the left end. This certainly could be anything but not a strip. This product also with slitting could become a strip, but we do not hear of such a process. 16. I am not able to give a ruling to the effect that the goods are strips. There are just not enough materials for doing so; on the contrary, the material I have seen suggest strongly that the products may not qualify as strip. And our ignorance of the width leaves nagging doubts in my mind that hold me back from such a ruling. These doubts are not a little heightened by an Assistant Collector who speaks of wid....