2008 (9) TMI 198
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....venue. 3. We heard both sides. 4. The appellant is a proprietary concern having office at Mumbai and is engaged in the manufacture of wooden furniture falling under Chapter Heading 94.03. They had undertaken furnishing of the premises of M/s. ITC Windsor Sheraton at Bangalore, during the course of which, they had manufactured furniture like Cabinet, Wardrobe, luggage rack, etc. They had not taken out Central Excise Registration and did not follow any procedure. Revenue initiated proceedings against them by way of issue of Show Cause Notice dated 31-8-2005 demanding Central Excise Duty on the impugned items. There was also a proposal to impose penalty. The Original Authority decided the issue confirming the duty to the extent of Rs. 1,42,8....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....hri Madhav Rao submitted that these items are fixtures and not furniture, and hence were not subject to the levy of excise duty. 10. In this connection we may refer to Chapter Sub-heading 9403 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 which reads as under: "Other furniture and parts thereof. 11. Learned Counsel for the appellants submits that the word 'furniture' means objects which are movable and are complete before being placed either on the floor or the ground. Learned counsel also submitted that the word 'furniture' does not cover items which emerge either as part of an immovable property or are erected stage by stage in its completion. These, he submitted, were fixtures and not furniture. He submitted that several of the items in ques....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... excisable under Sub-heading 9403 as furniture. 17. In view of the above discussion, we are of the opinion that these appeals have to be allowed. We hold that items which are ordinarily immovable or which ordinarily cannot be removed without cannibalizing e.g. storage units, running counters, overhead unit, rear and side unit, wall unit, pantry unit, kitchen unit and other items which are ordinarily immovable or cannot be removed without cannibalizing are not furniture. However, items like tables, desks, chairs etc. are furniture and hence excisable. 18. We may add that sometimes chairs, beds, tables, desks, etc. are affixed to the ground, but nevertheless they will still be called as furniture (one may recall the fixed bed in Sherlock Ho....