TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1994 (8) TMI 110
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....rtake job-work of coating telecommunication G.I. Wires with PVC. On being directed by the Department, they paid duty on such PVC coated G.I. wires under sub-heading 8544.00 of the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 under protest and also filed a representation dated 11-12-1990 in which they insisted that the activity of coating G.I. Wires with PVC on job work basis did not amount to manufacture. After issuing a show cause notice and taking into account the respondents reply, the Assistant Collector passed the order dated 14-7-1992 holding the said goods as chargeable to Central Excise duty under sub-heading 8544.00. Being aggrieved by the order passed by the Assistant Collector, the respondents filed an appeal before the Collec....
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.... coating of G.I. Wires does not amount to manufacture. He stated that the respondents were receiving G.I. Wires from the Department of Telecommunication for the purpose of coating them with PVC on job work basis. He contended that the activity of coating of bare G.I. Wires with PVC does not amount to manufacture since such coating does not result in any new product having a different name, character and use. In support of his contentions he cited the following case law :- Rexor India Ltd. v. Collector of Central Excise, New Delhi - 1991 (52) E.L.T 392 (Tri) = 1991 (32) ECR 437. X.L. Telecom Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. etc. v. Union of India & Ors. - 1994 (70) E.L.T. 530 (Bom.) = 1993 (47) ECR 171. 4. We have examined the records of the c....
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....se to be classifiable under Item 26AA. ("Iron or steel products, the following, namely, : (i-a) Bars, rods, coils, wires, ..... not otherwise specified"). It is seen from paras 29 and 30 of the Tribunal's order reproduced below in the case of Cable House v. C.C.E. (supra) that the main consideration which weighed with the Tribunal in arriving at the finding that PVC coated G.I. steel wires were classifiable under Tariff Item 26AA was that they were more specifically covered by the said item and the question whether the process of PVC coating of G.I. Steel wires amounted to manufacture was not gone into - "29. It is a cardinal principle of taxation that it is for the taxing authority to prove taxability of the goods sought to be taxe....
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.... 6. The Collector (Appeals) also referred to the Tribunal's decision in the case of National Insulated Cable Co. v. Collector of Central Excise, reported in 1989 (42) E.L.T 109 in which the Tribunal held that copper strips insulated with varnish bonded glass fibre would continue to be copper strips classifiable under Tariff Item 26A in preference to the residuary Item 68 since Item 26A is specific for all copper strips. 7. In view of the above discussion and also for the reason that unlike Item 33B of the erstwhile Central Excise Tariff which covered Electric Wires and Cables all sorts which were not otherwise specified, sub-heading 8544.00 specifically covers all insulated wires, cables and conductors, in our view the Tribu....
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..... Jhala v. N.H. Hokabay, reported in 1991 (55) E.L.T. 176, the Gujarat High Court has ruled that processing of grey fabrics amounts to manufacture within the meaning of Section 2(f) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 since a commercially different commodity with its own price structure and custom emerges after processing. 11. It cannot be denied that bare G.I. Steel wires falling under sub-heading 7217.90 of the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 and PVC coated insulated wires falling under sub-heading 8544.00 are different commercial commodities having different price structure, name, character and applications. Hence, on the ratio of the judgments quoted above, it has to be held that conversion of G.I. Steel wi....