2002 (2) TMI 485

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....rolled strips amounts to manufacture and they are eligible to the refund of the Central Excise duty paid by them. 2. Shri K.K. Anand, learned Advocate, submitted that the Appellants have been engaged in the activity of cold rolling of duty paid hot rolled strips since 1982; that what is received by them is steel strip and what goes out of their factory is steel strip and as such the activity undertaken by them does not amount to manufacture of a new product; that the matter has been settled by the Apex Court in their own case as reported in 1995 (77) E.L.T. 248 (S.C.) [CCE Chandigarh v. Steel Strips Ltd.]; that the Department has now claimed that the position has changed from 28-2-1986 onward with the introduction of New Central Exc....

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....ted that the decision by the Apex Court in 1995 (77) E.L.T. 248 (S.C.) was pronounced as the Revenue did not place any evidence on record that hot rolled strips undergo a process of manufacture before they become cold rolled strips; that it is apparent from the Explanatory Notes of HSN that Hot rolled products and cold rolled products are different; that it is mentioned in the HSN that "because of their special properties (better surface finish, better aptitude to cold-forming, stricter tolerances, generally reduced thickness, higher mechanical strength, etc.), the products of this Heading (72.09-cold-rolled) are in general used for purposes different from those of their hot-rolled counterparts....". The learned SDR, therefore, contended th....

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....ench of the Supreme Court quoted with approval the following observations made in an American Judgment :- "Manufacture" implies a change, but every change is not manufacture and yet every change of an article is the result of treatment, labour, and manipulation. But something more is necessary and there must be transformation; a new and different article must emerge having a distinctive name, character or use". 6. The Supreme Court in the Appellants own case considered the issue as to whether the process of cold rolling of hot rolled steel strips amounts to manufacture. The Revenue in the said matter had referred to a publication of the Indian Standard Institution and the specification therein for cold rolled carbon steel strips ....