TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1990 (9) TMI 84
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....ch as coating, impregnating, corrugation, creping and design printing), not elsewhere specified." Under Rule 173(B) of the Central Excise Rules, the company was required to file a classification list in respect of several varieties of papers manufactured. The company filed a classification list on April 2, 1976 and claimed that duty is payable on manufacture of tracing paper under Item No. 17(1) of the First Schedule. The classification list was approved by the Asstt. Collector of Central Excise on April 8, 1976. On such approval, the company cleared the consignment of tracing paper on payment of excise duty under Item No. 17(1) of the First Schedule to the Act. 2. By letter dated January 27, 1977, the Superintendent of Central Excise called upon the company to file a revised classification list calssifying tracing paper under Item No. 17(2) of the First Schedule. The Superintendent claimed that tracing paper was not a variety of printing and writing paper so as to fall within Tariff Item No. 17(1). The company filed reply dated February 14, 1977 and claimed that the classification list filed earlier by the company was approved and there was no occasion to call upon the compa....
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....dia, but the same ended in dismissal by order dated July 28, 1981 passed by the Additional Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue. The orders passed by the three authorities below have given rise to the filing of the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. 4. Mr. Hidayatullah, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners, submitted that the authorities below are in error in concluding that excise duty payable on manufacture of tracing paper would fall under Tariff Item No. 17(2) and not under Item No. 17(1). The learned counsel urged that tracing paper is used for the purpose of tracing and the expression 'tracing' falls within the expression 'writing' set out in Tariff Item No. 17(1). The learned counsel urged that the fiscal entry clearly indicates the purpose for which the paper is to be used and i.e. either printing or writing and tracing is also a part of writing. Mr. Hidayatullah also submitted that the authorities below were in error in ignoring the three affidavits filed on behalf of the company to establish how tracing paper is considered by traders in the market. The learned counsel also urged that the....
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....bes for payment of duty for printing and writing paper, other than poster paper. The expression 'printing and writing' makes it clear that while ascertaining under which part of the entry duty can be recovered, user of the paper is very relevant. In our judgment, tracing is itself a form of writing and tracing paper would necessarily amount to writing paper. The act of tracing can be done either by writing, drawing or making some other form of reproduction on tracing paper and that exercise would clearly amount to writing. We also cannot overlook that reproduction is almost invariably accompanied by some writing or drawing. In Random House Dictionary, the word 'write' has been defined as "to trace or form (characters, letters, words, etc.) on the surface of some material, as with a pen, pencil, or other instrument or means." In Webster's Dictionary, the word 'trace' has been defined as "to follow or mark the outline of, especially mechanically or on a translucent paper; to outline, delineate or write." In the Concise Oxford Dictionary, the word 'trace' has been defined as "delineate, mark out, sketch, write" and the word 'write' has been defined as form or mark symbols representing....
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....ting or making some form of reproduction on the paper itself. Shah further stated that printing is often done on tracing paper to show certain details, modifications or to emphasize the underlying illustration. Shah claims that in common trade practice, tracing paper is used only for purposes of writing, drawing, printing or other form of reproduction. The second affidavit is filed by Muzaffar Husein Asgaraly Kapadia carrying on business in Bombay. Muzaffar Asgaraly claims that tracing paper is primarily and essentially used for tracing purposes and tracing necessarily involves writing, drawing or making some other form of reproduction on the paper itself and the general trade understanding is that tracing paper is used for the purposes of writing or printing. The third affidavit is filed by Bhupendra R. Parekh carrying on business in Bombay and Parekh claims that the main use of tracing paper is for tracing or reproducing on the paper and consumers consider that tracing paper is a writing paper. We do not find any reason to discard the claim made in these affidavits. The appellate authority and the revisional authority declined to place any reliance upon these affidavits by sugges....