TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2008 (4) TMI 33
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....gnments of unglazed porcelain tiles, as per appellants, vide Bills of Entry No. 113197 dated 24.10.2000 and No. 113056 dated 23.10.2000. In these two Bills of Entry, the appellants claimed classification of the tiles under sub-heading 6907.90 of the Customs Tariff Schedule. Since goods falling under sub-heading 6907.90 were freely importable without any license, appellants sought clearance of the same on payment of appropriate customs duty in terms of para 5.1 of the Exim Policy 1997-2002. The Bill of Entry was assessed as per declaration made by the appellants. After the payment of duty so assessed, the Bill of Entry was presented in the import shed for physical examination where the goods were examined in the presence of the appella....
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....icense and also imposed penalty of Rs. 10,00,000/- on the appellants. 4. Aggrieved against the order passed by the Commissioner of Customs, the appellants filed appeals before the Tribunal which have been dismissed by the impugned order. 5. The point involved in the present appeal relates to the classification of goods in question under Indian Trade Classification (Harmonized System) [ITC (HS)] Policy. There is no dispute regarding rate of duty payable thereon. But depending on the classification, the goods will either fall under restricted list or free list of import. As per the appellants, the imported goods were unglazed porcelain tiles classifiable under heading 6907.90 and as such, could be imported without li....
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....le) glazed tiles have a porous body permeable to water..." 8. The manufacturing process supplied by the manufacturer which was in turn given to the Customs Authorities by the appellants vide letter dated 23.12.2000 also brings out the distinction between the glazed and unglazed tiles. Even in the subsequent communication dated 30.01.2001, the same very distinction was reiterated. The relevant portion of the letter reads as under: - "...There are clear distinctions between porcelain unglazed tiles and glazed tiles from the point of view of their nature and compositions. While porcelain unglazed tiles are almost completely vitrified and would absorb no water (impermeable), glazed tiles have a porous body permeable to water..." ....
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....made from minerals such as clay, feldspar, silica and talc, the porcelain is made out from a mixture of ingredients like kaolin, petuntse. Kaolin is a pure white clay and petuntse is a type of felt spar found only in China. It has not been proved by the appellants that the tiles imported by it were made from the mixture of ingredients like kaoline and petuntse. His case was that tiles imported by it were unglazed ceramic tiles. Since, the material which goes into production in the ceramic tiles and porcelain tiles is different, in the absence of any material to show that the tiles manufactured by the appellants were porcelain tiles made out of kaolin and petuntse, it cannot be held that the tiles imported by the appellants were other cerami....