TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (12) TMI 708
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....o.126/2007 dated 31.7.2007. 2. The appellant-assessee is engaged in the manufacture of "FRP Composite Doors and Frames" and claimed the benefit of SSI exemption. The departmental officers carried out search at the factory of the appellant as well as other connecting premises, on 5.12.2005 and recovered records and CPUs of computer systems considered relevant for investigation. After completion of investigation and issue of show-cause notice covering the period 1.4.2003 to 5.12.2005, the original authority finalised the classification of the goods manufactured by the appellant under Central Excise Tariff Heading (CETH) 3925.20 as articles of plastics . The claim of the appellant that the goods were rightly classifiable under CETH 4410.19 ....
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....by Shri K. S. Ravi Shankar, learned advocate is summarised below: (i) The appellant has manufactured frames and doors which were manufactured having a core of solid sal wood which was coated with fibre reinforced plastic (FRP), which serves to protect the wood from moisture especially since the doors manufactured by the assessee were intended to be used in bathrooms. He submitted that the goods were predominantly made of wood, both in terms of weight as well as in terms of value of the relevant materials. The weight as well as value of plastic is comparatively minor when compared to the wood. Accordingly, the goods are rightly classifiable as products of wood and more specifically under CETH 4410.19 (Wooden doors) as well as under ....
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....ment in roofing, wall or floor application and consisting of an external layer of particle board and layer of insulating materials of plastics will be classified under CETH 4410 whatever be the thickness of plastic since it is the rigid strong wood portion which allows the panel to be used as a structural element. He cited the Apex Court decision in the Wood Craft Products Ltd. reported in 1995 (77) EKT 23 (SC), in which the apex court has observed that HSN Explanatory notes will have persuasive value as long as the tariff is aligned with HSN. (v) He also referred to the CBEC Circular No.16/88-CX-3 dated 10.8.2008 in which the Board has clarified that the classification of composite articles of plastics made out of combination of p....
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....rial shall be classified as if they consisted of the material which gives them the essential character insofar as this criterion is applicable. The lower authorities have taken a view that out of the two materials - wood as well as plastic - the essential character is given by plastics, since the goods are marketed as FRP Composite Doors and Frames . Consequently, the lower authorities have ordered classification under Chapter 39. 6.1 The CBEC has occasion to clarify as to how the classification of composite articles of plastics as well as other materials are to be made. In the Circular dated 10.8.88, the CBEC has clarified as follows: "2. The above mentioned issues have been examined by the Board. As regards the classification ....
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....of the component materials which have gone into the manufacture of the composite article. 6.3 The view that the goods merit classification under 44 also finds support in the decision of the Tribunal in the case of Simba FRP (P) Ltd. (supra) where the classification of flush doors which are made by gluing PVC skin on the plywood. Such goods have been classified under 4410.11. We note that the item involved in the present dispute is also of a similar type in the sense that such doors are made out of wood coated by FRP skins. Hence, we conclude that the goods in question are rightly classifiable under CETH 4410.19 as articles of wood (door) as well as under CETH 4410.90 as wooden frames. The appellant, during the period under dispute, will ....