TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (3) TMI 166
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....ation No.10/2003-CE dt 1.3.2003 and other analogus Notifications issued previously and post the said Notification, thereby paying concessional rate of duty as prescribed under the notifications. The Respondent were issued Show Cause Notice dt 4.8.2005 alleging that the Respondent have been mis-classifying the goods as Mosaic Tiles. The goods manufactured by the Respondent are commercially known as Chequered Tiles, Rockard designer tiles and decorative Interlocking paver block as evident from the website and the printed legislature. The tiles are not commercially known as "Mosaic tiles" and hence the exemption under notification is not available to them. It was alleged that the Respondent has cleared the Chequered Tiles, Rockard designer tiles and decorative Interlocking paver blocks which are not commercially known as "Mosaic Tiles" by misclassifying the same as "Mosaic Tiles". The said Tiles are known by their individual name and not as "Mosaic Tiles" in market which can be seen from the product Catalouges/ Broucher of the respondent. The product brouchers also advertise Mosaic Tiles (Grey & white) separately in addition to the Chequered Tiles, Decorative Pavers etc which implies ....
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....fact. He submits that the phrase "that is to say" is not a simple language construction as is evident from the interpretation given by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and judicial Dictionary. He relies upon judgments of Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of State of Tamil Nadu Vs. Pyare Lal Malhotra - 1983 (13) ELT 1582 (SC), Castrol India Ltd Vs. Commissioner of Central Excise, Calcutta - 2005(181) ELT 367 (SC) to canvass the point that the words "that is to say" are an expression which is employed to make clear and fix the meaning of what is to be explained or defined. He also relies upon the Tribunal order in case of Kedia Agglomerated Marbles - 1995 (77) ELT 710 (Tribunal) to submit that the identically worded affidavits cannot be relied upon even though the said order has been reversed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, but the fact would remain that in the arguments advanced above, emphasis is sought to be laid on the usage of the - that is to say" in the notification and which point was apparently not argued before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. That if the intention of the Govt. was to grant exemption to all Mosaic tiles, the entry in the notification would have stopped at that meaning to say ....
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....t the individual species, in that case no exemption notification would be available to any goods, where the genus is name in the exemption notification and not the individual species. The commercial understanding is crucial to determine the eligibility to exemption. The terminology "Tiles commercially known as Mosaic Tiles" employed in the exemption clause itself suggest that it is of utmost importance to ascertain as to how these tiles are commercially known. He also explains the process of manufacture undertaken by them and IS Specification of the Mosaic Tiles. He places reliance on the judgment by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Kedia Agglomerated Marbles Ltd V/s CCE - 2003 (152) ELT 22 (SC) wherein it was held that the Tiles manufactured from marble chips and cement are Mosaic Tiles despite the fact that the commercial name adopted by the manufacturer did not refer to the goods as "Mosaic Tiles". That in the case of Shon Ceramics Pvt Ltd Vs CCE - 1991 (52) ELT 608 (Tri), it was held that unicoloured tiles made from glass are Mosaic Tile and the above decision categorically held that tiles of a single colour also are commercially known as Mosaic Tiles. The Apex court in....
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....tern or design after affixing individual pieces together. There is no doubt about the classification of the said product under Heading No.68.07 of the Central Excise Tariff. No such allegation was also leveled in the show cause notice and in absence of any adverse commercial evidence that the goods are not Mosaic Tiles under heading 68.07, the allegations of the show cause notice are not sustainable. He submits that they have produced affidavits of known builders and contractors, who regularly use the product for construction activities, before the adjudicating authority wherein the builders and contractors have clearly stated that the product in question is commercially known as Mosaic Tiles. That like in the case of Kedia (supra), no negative material was produced by the Revenue to claim that the tiles in question are commercially not known as Mosaic Tiles. That the evidence emerging from the catalogues and brochures is self-explanatory to suggest that the end result of joining of tiles together is a Mosaic and even the unique colour tiles are mosaic tiles. He also relies upon the Tribunal order in case of Shon Ceramics wherein it was held that the chemical composition of tiles....
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....of M/s Nitco Tiles Ltd. are commercially known as mosaic Tiles and the above names only denote an individual variety of Mosaic Tiles for trade facilitation purpose". The revenue has not brought any fact on record that the tiles were not Mosaic or commercially not known as Mosaic. As we find from the Respondent submission, the dictionary meaning of "Mosaic" means a picture of decorative design made by the small coloured pieces of stones or tiles into a surface or the process of art of making such pictures or design. We find that no adverse allegation is appearing in SCN against the Respondent that the Tiles manufactured by them do not fulfill the above criteria of Mosaic. We are in agreement with the submission of the Respondent that the nomenclature on delivery challans viz a vis that reflected in excise document cannot be considered as adverse view against them. What is important is that the goods under reference must belong to the category of Mosaic Tiles so as to eligible for exemption from duty. The term "Mosaic" is a germ and once the goods belong to the category of Mosiac, the category of goods would not debar it from the category of Mosaic. In the present case the Tiles as p....
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....be understood not in strict scientific and technical sense but in their popular sense i.e. the meaning assigned to them by those trading in and using the product (see Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhavan Ltd. v. Collector of Central Excise, Nagpur [1996 (9) SCC 402 at para 3]. The words 'mosaic tiles' in the exemption notification are to be understood, thus, in their popular meaning. After the words 'mosaic tiles' the addition of words 'tiles known commercially as mosaic tiles,' in the text of the exemption notification appears to be an over emphasis, with intention to assign meaning to the product in the sense in which it is understood by those dealing in and using the product. Thus the Hon'ble Court held that the Tiles in question would merit classification as 'Mosaic Tiles' despite the fact that the commercial name of the Tiles was not Mosaic Tiles and were sold by unique name to each product. In the present case following the same analogy of the Hon'ble Apex Court as above, we are in agreement with the submission of the Ld. Counsel for the respondent that an individual tile, which has an inherent well defined visible pattern or design contributed by the marble or stone chips mixed ....