TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (12) TMI 1268
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....s, when subjected to the process of cropping, fall under sub headings 5207.39/5208.39 (till 28.02.2001 under 5207.29/5208/29) and 5511.29/5512.29/513.29 of CETA and they attract duty. Prior to 01.04.1995, fabrics which were subjected to certain processes like cropping were exempted under erstwhile Notification No.253/82 dated 08.11.1982. as amended (applicable to cotton fabrics falling under Chapter 52) and under erstwhile Notification No.297/79 dated 24.11.1979 as amended (applicable to man-made fabrics falling under chapter 55). However, from 01.04.1995, the exemption to these fabrics was restricted only to a manufacturer who did not possess, the facilities for carrying out bleaching, dyeing or printing or any one or more of these processes with the aid of power or steam vide Notification Nos.40/95 and 43/95 dated 16.03.1995 applicable respectively to cotton and man-made fabrics. This conditional exemption was extended for subsequent periods as per Notifications issued from time to time. On a surprise visit made by the departmental officers to the appellant s unit on 10/11.11.2000, it was found that they were in possession of two cropping machines which were used to cut loose thr....
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....m is in no manner different from the process of shearing undertaken in the case of Mafatlal Fine Spinning case. (v) In Siddeshwari Cotton Mills Pvt. Vs UOI - 1989 (39) ELT 498 (SC) while addressing the issue of whether calendering is a process of manufacture, inter alia, the Hon'ble Apex Court held that the process of manufacture would be one which impart a change of lasting character to the fabrics either by the addition of some chemicals or otherwise. In Oswal Industries (P) Ltd. Vs Collector of Central Excise - 1990 (49) ELT 305 (Tribunal) it was inter alia held that process of shearing or cropping carried out on knitted acrylic fabrics is not manufacture and hence would be eligible for exemption under Notification No.109/86-CE dt. 27.2.1986 read with Notification No.297/79-CE dt. 24.11.1979. Appeal against the above decision was dismissed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court as reported in Collector Vs Oswal Industries Pvt. Ltd. -1991 (52) ELT A80; That the process of calendering involved in the above cited case law is different from the process of cropping involved in the appellant s case. The issue resolved therein is whether the grey fabrics subjected to the process of calendering....
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....uld be useful to reproduce the relevant chapter sub headings as well as the relevant chapter notes of Chapter 52 and 55 under CETA 1985 as under : Chapter 52 - Cotton 5207 Woven fabrics of cotton, containing 85% or more by weight of Cotton 5207.10 - Not subjected to any process. - Subjected to the process of bleaching, mercerising, dyeing, printing, water-proofing, shrink proofing, organdie processing, or any other process or any one or more of these processes : 5207.29 - Other Woven fabrics 5208 Woven fabrics of cotton, containing less than 85% by weight of Cotton, mixed mainly or solely with man-made fibres. 5208.10 - Not subjected to any process. - Subjected to the process of bleaching, mercerizing, dyeing, printing, water-proofing, shrink proofing, organdie processing, Or any other process or any one or more of these processes: 5208.29 - Other Woven fabrics. Chapter Note 3 of Chapter 52 (Cotton) reads that in relation to products of heading Nos.52.07, 52.08 and 52.09, bleaching, mercerizing, dyeing, printing, water-proofing, shrink proofing, organdie processing or any other process or any one or more of thes....
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..../synthetic staple fibres bring about irreversible change in the characteristics of such fabrics and further, all these processes may also require treatment or intervention of chemicals to achieve the desired result. This being so, we are of the considered opinion that the term "any other process" will necessarily be of the same genre of processes which bring about permanent change in the characteristics of the fabrics. This is the doctrine of Noscitur A Socis, namely, that the meaning of doubtful word can be ascertained by reference to the meaning of words associated with that word. This doctrine has been elucidated in Brooms Legal Maxims, Twelfth Edition as under : "It is a rule laid down by Lord Bacon, that copulatio verborum indicat acceptationem in eodum sensu the coupling of words together shows that they are to be understood in the same sense. And, where the meaning of a particular word is doubtful or obscure, or where a particular expression when taken singly is inoperative, the intention of the party who used it may frequently be ascertained by looking at adjoining words, or at expressions occurring in other parts of the same instrument, for quf non valeant singular junct....
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....in immediate connection with them i.e. when two or more words which are susceptible of analogous meaning are clubbed together, they are understood to be used in their cognate sense. They take, as it were, their colour from each other, the meaning of the more general is restricted to a sense analogous to a less general. The philosophy behind it is that the meaning of the doubtful words may be ascertained by reference to the meaning of words associated with it. This doctrine is broader than the doctrine of ejusdem generis. This doctrine was accepted by this Court in catena of cases but its application is to be made to the context and the setting in which the words came to be used or associated in the statute or the statutory rule. [para 6]" 6.5 Applying the doctrine of Noscitur a sociis, we therefore have no hesitation to hold that "any other process" will necessarily have to be one like bleaching, mercerizing, shrink-proofing etc. resulting in permanent change in the characteristics of the fabrics and mostly involving use of a chemical agent. Per contra, "cropping" involves removal of fibres from surface of the fabrics, by cutting projecting fibres and yarn, the terms "cropping" an....
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....ifies a principle of construction whereby words in a statute which are otherwise wide but are associated in the text with more limited words are, by implication, given a restricted operation and are limited to matters of the same class or genus as preceding them. If a list or string or family of genus-describing terms are followed by wider or residuary or sweeping-up ........ 8. The preceding words in the statutory provision which, under this particular rule of construction, control and limit the meaning of the subsequent words must represent a genus or a family which admits of a number of species or members. If there is only one species it cannot supply the idea of a genus. In the present case the expressions bleaching, mercerising, dyeing, printing, water-proofing, rubberising, shrink-proofing, organdie processing which precede the expression or any other process contemplate processes which impart a change of a lasting character to the fabric by either the addition of some chemical into the fabric or otherwise. Any other process in the section must, share one or the other of these incidents. The expression any other process is used in the context of what constitutes manufactu....
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....rtment and variety of processes, some of which might and some others might not affect or alter the nature of the fabric. Both the expressions, calendering and shearing are collective expressions representing a number of sub-species of operations which, depending upon the nature of the particular operation, may or may not alter the nature of the grey fabric as such. Shri Sorabjee submitted that in the present case calendering was not done by grooved rollers or cylinders but only by plain rollers and the Shearing operation was only to cut-off protruding stray fibres from the 'grey fabric', and that actual processes of calendering and shearing involved in the present case were amongst the simplest of the processes and did not have the effect of brining about any change in the grey-fabric . 11. These matters depend on particularities of the facts of each case and are to be decided on a case by case basis. The Tribunal proceeded on the basis that Calendering and Shearing amounted to process of finishing and that by itself, without more, satisfied the conditions that would take the case out of Rule 49A(1). The test applied by the Appellate Tribunal, as well as by the authorit....
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....echanically would be eligible for the exemption. The loose ends would be only the ends of the threads at the edges and not all over the surface of the fabrics. Since in the present case, the process carried out covered the cutting or trimming of the pile on the surface of the fabrics, it went beyond the scope of the notification and hence duty has been correctly determined. This argument does not appeal to us. The definition of the term cropping in the exemption Notification in question is, no doubt shorter than the one given in the Reference books referred to in the decisions cited by both the parties. But that, to our mind, does not advance the case of the department. Cutting away mechanically of loose ends from the fabrics cannot mean that the cutting should be confined only to the loose ends of yarn at the edges. The loose ends in the fabrics in the knitted fabrics are there not only at the edges but also on the surface. Since the definition of the term Cropping in the Notification does not itself say that the cutting the loose ends is to be limited only to the loose ends present in the fabric at the edges and not on the surface, this criterion cannot be imported into the matte....