1983 (5) TMI 241

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....emsp;For a proper appreciation of the issues involved in this appeal it may be relevant to set out briefly the facts of the case leading to this appeal. The appellant in this case is a private limited company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and was, inter alia, engaged in the manufacture of hospital equipment and equipment for canteen of big industrial concerns at his factory. The item which is the subject-matter of this appeal is the Heavy Duty Hot Food Cabinet for canteens of big industrial units. This item was being classified as non-excisable upto 28-2-1975, the same not falling under any of the Central Excise Tariff Items 1 to 66. But subsequent to the insertion of the new Tariff Item 68-"All other goods not elsewhere specif....

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.... changing the classification of the very Item, changed the classification from T.I. 68 to T.I. 40, though there was no change either in the structure end use in respect of the said item. (b) While effecting the change, no opportunity was given to the appellant to make any submissions to sustain his classification under T.I. 68. 4. While it was urged before the Appellate Collector that the Item with which the appellant was concerned was specially designed and was actually used for heavy duty in canteens of industrial establishments and as such it would not fulfil the main criterion for being classified under T.I. 40 viz. its movability, the Appellate Collector rejected the appeal taking the view that the criterion of movabili....

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.... of the case, we could not help sympathising with the unenviable task to which the Departmental Representatives had been put in making use of all their ingenuity and skill to counter the irrefutable arguments of the learned consultant Shri Mehta who in his characteristics mild and measured tone built his case in a rising crescendo which had the devastating effect of demolishing the entire case of the Department which collapsed like a house built on quick sand. If we are constrained to make observations of this nature which may not be palatable to the authorities below, it is not out of a desire to pick holes in an order of the authorities below but out of the sheer sense of exasperation in having to deal with an order of this kind which doe....