1984 (4) TMI 289

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

.... and is supplied to factories which use it as an ingredient in the manufacture of drugs and formulations. It claims that this product is a drug and must be classified under Item 68 CET and be given the exemption available to the drugs under Notification 55/75-C.E. The Central Excise, however, assessed the chemical under Item 15AA as a surface active agent because it has surface-activity. The appellant says that though it has surface-active properties, it is an ingredient in a drug formulation and deserves classification as a drug rather than as a surface-active substance. 3. The learned Counsel for M/s. Anand Synthochem Pvt. Ltd. argued before the Tribunal that it is its use that should govern its assessment. The chemical has an I.P....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....f the substance. The appellant does not dispute the test that found the product to have the capacity to reduce surface tension. The Tribunal's decision quoted by the appellant's Counsel was in relation to a dispute about classification as a drug intermediate; this case is different. 6. The assessee is not required to manufacture only I.P. grades. He quoted the Dunlop Judgment that use should not form a basis for assessment; the classification must always be based on the composition and character of the thing assessed. Sugar and alcohol find use as or in drug manufacture, but nobody has suggested their assessment as drugs. Hawley's dictionary defines "drug"- "(1) A substance that acts on the central nervous system e.g., a narcotic....