TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1984 (10) TMI 231
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....nal, it was transferred in terms of Section 35-P of the Central Excises and Salt Act to this Tribunal to be disposed of as if it were an appeal filed before the Tribunal. 2. The facts of the case, briefly stated, are that M/s. Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd., the appellants (hereinafter referred to for brevity's sake as N.L.C.) received a quantity of 4451.716 K.L. of furnace oil during the period from March, 1979 to 15-7-1979 without payment of Excise duty under Chapter X Procedure to be used as feed-stock in the manufacture of fertilizer in accordance with Central Excises Notification No. 147/74, dated 30-10-1974. The actual manufacture of fertilizer (urea) commenced only from 16-7-1979. Till this date the furnace oil obtained in ....
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..... 187/61, dated 23-12-1961 consumed during the period of trial-runs and commissioning of the plant would be raw-naphtha intended for the use in the manufacture of fertilizer. Whether it was used wholly as feed-stock or partly as feed-stock and partly as processed fuel, the concessional rate of duty would be available in such cases. The Assistant Collector who adjudicated the case did not accept N.L.C's contentions. He held that Notification No. 147/74 did not apply in the instant case but Notification No. 195/76 in terms of which duty at Rs. 61.05 per K.L. was chargeable on furnace oil used otherwise than as feed-stock in the manufacture of fertilizer. The Assistant Collector, considered that the analogy of the Government's instructions reg....
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....king combined operation from 4-7-1979 to 15-7-1979 intermittently by utilising some of the gas from the oil gasification process also for urea production. Accordingly, it is stated, a quantity of 2085 metric tonnes urea would be relatable to oil as feed-stock during the period from 4-7-1979 to 15-7-1979, though in the relevant excise records the urea production entries were made from 16-7-1979 the date from which the fertilizer factory was run solely on furnace oil as feed-stock. It is averred that the aforesaid quantity of furnace oil was not used as fuel but was used only as feed-stock in the manufacture of fertilizer. 5. We have heard Shri V.N.R. Rao, Senior Advocate with Shri S. Raghunathan Technical Manager for the appellants a....
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.... oil in the present case was not used as feed-stock which is a pre-condition for the exemption in Notification 147/74. Notification 187/61 regarding raw-naphtha was not analogous and the Ministry's clarification relied upon by the counsel for N.L.C. was not applicable since the notification there was different. Regarding Board's order-in-appeal relied upon by the counsel Shri Khanna stated that the notification would prevail over the said decision. 8. We have carefully considered the submissions of both sides. It is necessary to ascertain the meaning of the expression "feed-stock" for the purpose of arriving at a proper decision in the present case. The following are taken from dictionaries- "Feed-Stock"-"Raw material supplied to....
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....n in obtaining furnace oil was undisputably to use it as feed-stock i.e. as raw material to be delivered to the machine in the fertilizer plant. From the process flowsheet for fuel oil based urea production by N.L.C., a copy of which was furnished by Shri Rao during the hearing, it is clear that furnace oil has to go through the stages of gasification, desulphurisation and decarbonation and certain other processes before ammonia is generated ultimately leading to the production of urea. 9. Notification No. 147/74, dated 30-10-1974 reads as follows :- "The Central Government has exempted furnace, oil falling respectively under Item No. 10 of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) and intended for ....