1971 (1) TMI 51

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.... the business of building bodies for passenger buses. These bodies are fitted with seats made of wood and steel. With effect from March 1, 1968 excise duty was levied on "steel furniture made partly or wholly of steel, in or in relation to the manufacture of which any process is ordinarily carried on with the aid of power, whether in assembled or unassembled condition." This item was inserted as I....

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....the Collector Central Excise. 2. Written statement has been filed in which two preliminary objections have been taken that is, a joint petition on behalf of two dealers is not competent as separate notices were issued to each of them. The second objection is that the petitioners should have availed of the statutory remedy so that the departmental authorities could have determined on facts wheth....

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....d into the buses are covered by item 40 as furniture and the petitioner is liable to pay the duty in respect thereof. It is correctness of this decision that has been challenged in the writ petition. 5. The word `furniture' has not been defined by the Legislature. We have, therefore, to determine whether the seats fitted in the buses amount to furniture or not. `Furniture' is derived from the w....

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.... these chairs, when removed from the buses, can be used as furniture, does not furnish any criterion to determine whether the seats, when fixed to the bodies, of buses by the petitioner amount to furniture or not. I may repeat that when building the body for a bus, the petitioner builds these seats just like the other parts of the body of the bus like roof and other things. The body of the bus is ....