TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1994 (7) TMI 86
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....time to time. The question was answered by a learned single Judge of the Karnataka High Court in the affirmative and the writ petition filed by the appellant under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India was allowed. [Reported in 1984 (18) ELT 217 (Kar.)]. Writ appeal filed by the Union of India against the judgment of the learned single Judge was allowed by the judgment dated November 16, 1990 by the Division Bench of the High Court and the judgment of the learned single Judge was set aside and the writ petition of the appellant before the High Court was dismissed. This appeal by way of special leave is against the judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court. 3. The appellant-company manufactures printed cartons at its factory....
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....nted cartons were not eligible for exemption under the Notification as they were a product of the Packaging Industry. The appellant was asked to file a fresh classification list in respect of printed cartons and to clear the same on payment of excise duty. The appellant filed a fresh classification list dated November 1, 1980 and has been paying excise duty on the printed cartons thereafter. The Superintendent of Central Excise issued notices dated September 24, 1980 calling upon the appellant to show cause why the amount mentioned in the said notices be not recovered from the appellant as duty of excise for the period when they cleared the printed cartons without payment of duty. It was stated in the show cause notices that printed cartons....
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....We have been taken through the extracts from books and treatises to show that in ordinary parlance printed cartons are considered to be the product of the Printing Industry. Encyclopedia "HOW IT'S MADE" by Donalled Clarks in the Chapter entitled printing states thus :- "Apart from the obvious books, magazines and newspapers the products of the printing industry are many and diverse. They include posters, banknotes, telephone directories, postage stamps, record sleeves, wall papers, cartons, plasitc containers and many other forms of packaging." 8. Similarly, Victors Stauss in his book "The Printing Industry" states that the number of printed products is legion, it is hence absolutely impossible to enumerate them all. He further st....
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....nting industry and not of the textile industry. A metal can with printed material on it will similarly be a product of the printing industry and not of the textile industry. A metal can with printed material on it will similarly be a product of the printing industry and not the packaging industry. The same can be said of card-board packet and even wooden boxes over which some printing is done to identify the goods or its manufacturer. In our view, the mere fact that something is printed on a product by itself does not make it a product of the printing industry. A carton is a carton and has only one use, namely of packing a product to be sold in the market. The mere fact that something is printed on it does not change its essential nature or....
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....principle on which a distinction can be drawn between an ordinary carton and a printed carton, and to hold that an ordinary carton is a product of a packaging industry, while a printed carton is a product of the printing industry, if it emerges in its final shape from a printing press. At best it can be said that with technological advancement, it has become possible to have composite industries which can provide a variety of services, not necessarily confined to a single industry as conventionally understood, and which may produce a variety of manufactured items. In such cases the products have to be classified having regard to their purpose and as they are understood in ordinary parlance. So viewed, a paper carton, whether printed or not ....