TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1995 (5) TMI 26
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....before us). 2.The assessees make cold rolled steel strips from hot rolled steel strips. The applicable entry of the Central Excise Tariff is Tariff Item No. 26AA, which deals with "Iron or Steel products, the following namely : ************ Flats, skelp and strips *"*********** For the relevant period, being March 1982 to February 1986, an Exemption Notification was in operation in regard to steel strips, being Notification No. 55/80, dated 13th May, 1980, as amended, issued under Rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944. It exempted galvanised strips and other than galvanised strips from so much of the basic excise duty leviable thereon as was in excess of Rs. 850/- per metric tonne and Rs. 350/- per metric tonne respectively. It then....
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.... rolled carbon steel strips for general engineering purposes. Para 0.3 of the Foreword thereto, which is relied upon, states : "Cold rolled steel strip is produced by cold rolling descaled hot rolled strip between plain rolls to obtain a bright surface, closely controlled gauge, thinner gauges and a variety of tempers." Reliance is also placed upon the 8th Edition of a book entitled "The Making, Shaping & Treating of Steel" by Harold E. Mcgannon. Section 6 thereof deals with the principal methods for cold working and, in relation to cold rolling, it states : "Cold working by cold rolling consists of passing unheated, previously hot-rolled bars, sheets or strip (cleaned of scale) through a set of rolls, often many times, until the final size....
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....quiring the assessee to set out in writing what it does to obtain the article. Too often, as our experience in this Court and in the High Courts, before the Tribunal was established, shows, lack of evidence has led to the failure of the case of the Excise Authorities and, consequently, to the loss of revenue to the State. 7.Failure to lay the requisite evidence cannot be made up by reference to authoritative publications unless the Excise Authorities inform the assessee that they propose to rely upon the same before the adjudicating authority. It is then open to the assessee to establish that it does not obtain the article by the means referred to in the publication or indeed, that the publication is not authoritative. In the decision of m....