TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1980 (1) TMI 93
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....lectronics Limited, a public limited company, is engaged in the manufacture of Room Air-coolers, marketed under the trade mark 'Gulmarg' and with these coolers a trolly type stand made of steel is also provided as an accessory. Admittedly, no excise duty on this item was leviable prior to March 1, 1968. By Finance Act No. 19 of 1968, Entry No. 40 was introduced in Schedule I to the Act which reads as under :- "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." 3. After the introduction of that entry, which was made effective with effect from March 1, 1968, the Central Excise Department advis....
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.... the word 'steel furniture' in entry No. 40 of Schedule I has to be interpreted according to its popular sense and in the popular sense the trolly in dispute would never be taken as an item of furniture. Reliance for this proposition was placed on Porritts & Spencer (Asia) Ltd. v. State of Haryana (S.C.) (1278) 42 S.T.C. 433. There can be no quarrel with this proposition of law but the determining factor in the present case would be as to what is understood by the word `furniture'. 5. The word `furniture' is not defined in the Act and according to Webster's dictionary it means the articles of convenience or decoration used to furnish a house, apartment, place of business or other accommodation etc. especially movable articles such as chai....
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....t generally included by the term "fittings". 6. It is, therefore, evident that the word `furniture' means an equipment with which the house or a business premises is equipped for a certain use or facility. If this test is applied to the trolly In -dispute, it would certainly be an item of furniture because it is placed in a house for better utility of the air-cooler. The fact that it is provided by the petitioner-company as an accessory to the air-cooler would not make it its essential component because admittedly for the working of the air-cooler, it is not a necessary for a person to purchase a trolly because the air-cooler can be fitted either in a window or place on a wooden stool in any room. Mr. Bhagirath Dass, learned Counsel for t....