TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (9) TMI 12
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....ance at all with the dispute which we have been called upon to resolve. The issue that is sought to be raised by the intervener could be a separate cause of action. We, however, clarify that we have not passed any adverse order against the intervener in our Judgment and Order passed today. Nothing further is required to be stated in so far the applicant is concerned. 2. The classification of "CD ROM" containing images of drawing and designs of engineering goods is the issue of dispute in the present Appeal. The present Appeal assails the judgment and order dated 31.1.2003 passed by the Customs Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal (referred to herein as "CEGAT") which rejected the plea of the appellant that CD-ROM containing images of drawings and designs of engineering goods was classifiable under the Tariff Heading 49.06 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act 1975 (hereinafter referred to as the Tariff Act') as drawings for engineering purposes or under heading 49.11 as other printed matter. The alternative plea of the appellant for classifying the same under Sub-Heading Nos. 8524.39 or 8524.90 of the Tariff was also not accepted. Incidentally, the aforesaid st....
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....not be covered under the Heading 85.24 as claimed by the appellant. It was also submitted by him that when there is a specific heading in Chapter 85 covering the impugned product, the said heading is to be preferred and not any other heading. 7. In order to appreciate the contention of the counsel appearing for the parties, we have considered the rival Headings of the Tariff on which reliance is placed by the counsel appearing for the parties which read as follows:- Chapter 49 - Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, typescripts and plans 49.06 Plans and drawings for architectural, engineering, industrial, commercial, topographical or similar purposes, being originals drawn by hand; hand-written texts; photographic reproductions on sensitized paper and carbon copies of the foregoing. 49.11 Other printed matter, including printed pictures and photographs Chapter 85 - Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles 85.24 Records, tapes and other recorded media for....
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....s industrial plans and drawings the purpose of which, generally, is to indicate the position and relation of parts or features of buildings, machinery or other constructions either as they exist, or for the guidance of builders or manufacturers in their construction (e.g., architects' or engineers' plans and drawings). The plans and drawings may include specifications, directions etc., printed or not. ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** It should be noted that such products fall in the heading only if consisting of originals drawn or written by hand, or of photographic reproductions on sensitized paper or of carbon copies of such originals. 11. It is thus clear that products fall under Heading 49.06 only if consisting of originals drawn or written by hand or of photographic reproductions on sensitized paper and carbon copies of such originals. The use of the word "only" in the HSN Explanatory Notes goes to show that the said Heading was meant exclusively for that purpose alone and not otherwise. 12. In Collector of Central Excise, Shillong vs. Wood Crafts Products Ltd. reported in (1995) 3 SCC 454, it was held by this Court that as e....
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.... was made by the counsel appearing for the appellant that if it is held that the CD-ROM in question is not covered by the Chapter 49, it would still be covered under the main heading of Chapter 85. According to the counsel appearing for the appellant, Chapter 85 would also include Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) for which, the rate of duty provided is Nil. It may be mentioned herein that under the Notification 17/2001 Cus dated 1.3.2001, the Central Government exempted the goods of the descriptions as specifically mentioned in the table from payment of duty. 15. What is made duty free is the Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) as it is and not a disc containing certain drawings and designs and therefore, the contention of the counsel appearing for the appellant that the goods, in question, would be covered by Chapter 85 is also not found tenable. 16. Further reliance was placed by the counsel appearing for the appellant on Serial No. 285 of Notification 17/2001 Cus dated 1.3.2001 under the column "chapter or heading No. or sub heading No. " which is shown in the table as 49 or 85.24 and for which the description of goods are as follows:- "i. The following goods n....
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.... the aforesaid Notification 17/2001 Cus dated 1.3.2001. 21. There can be no doubt that such engineering drawings and designs do not provide instructions for the computer hardware to perform. At best, the said drawings and designs can be said to be are by-products and outputs of the computer software, which generate the designs and drawings. Therefore, such engineering drawings or designs data in a CD cannot be placed in the category of the term "software". It is therefore held that the engineering drawings and designs contained in a CD ROM will not be covered Heading 85.24 of the Tariff. 22. Such a case also does not fall under the sub-heading 8524.99, i.e., "Other", as the same must be relatable to all those which are said to be under the Main Heading 85.24. Sub-Heading 8524.99, includes, inter alia, recorded media (excluding discs for laser reading systems, magnetic tapes and cards incorporating a magnetic stripe) for reproducing representations of sound or images in addition to instructions and data, recorded in a machine readable binary form and capable of being manipulated or providing interactivity to a user, by means of an automatic data processing machine. As stated e....