TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1996 (10) TMI 74
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....we are concerned, namely, Lid screw, Barrel axle screw, Bridge screw and the Dial key screw. The controversy between the Revenue and the appellants with regard to these four articles was whether these four specified items are classifiable under Item 52 of the Schedule as `bolts, nuts and screws' or Item 68 as `all other goods not elsewhere specified'. 3.The Assistant Collector after issuing a show cause notice to which the appellants promptly sent a detailed reply, decided that the said items fall under Tariff Item 52. On appeal, the Collector (Appeals) after going through the materials placed before him held in favour of the appellants by deciding that the specified items will fall under Tariff Item 68. On further appeal by the Revenue, the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as "the Tribunal") in its elaborate order while upsetting the order of the Collector (Appeals) restored the order of the Assistant Collector. Aggrieved by the order of the Tribunal, the present appeal has been preferred under Section 35(L)(b) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944. 4.Mr. D.A. Dave, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellant vehementl....
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....ppeals). 5.Contending contrary, Shri P.A. Chaudhary, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Revenue after referring to the order of the Tribunal, in particular Paragraphs 24, 35, 37 and 38 to 40 submitted that unless the Tribunal's order is found to be perverse or arbitrary, this Court may not interfere with the conclusion reached by it. The end use will not decide the character of the article as held by this Court in several cases and therefore, the issue cannot be decided with reference to use to which the articles in question were put or for that matter the functions for which the articles were manufactured by the appellants. He also submitted that the appellants themselves called the article as `screws' and where there is a specific entry for the article, namely, Item 52, resort cannot be had to residuary entry by placing reliance on the end use of the articles or referring to the functions of such articles. His further submission was that it is well-settled that trade notice is not binding on the Tribunal and therefore, no reliance can be placed on the trade notice. To a question put to the learned Senior Counsel by the Court whether the above said trade notices have sinc....
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....ued in its popular sense. Popular sense means that sense which people conversant with the subject matter with which the statute is dealing would attribute to it." 7.It is common ground that the Revenue even at the Tribunal stage has not taken the trouble of countering the evidence in the shape of affidavits by people in the trade even though the Collector (Appeals) has pertinently observed as follows :- "Further, it is also to be observed that while the evidence by way of affidavits produced by the appellants was not relied upon the Assistant Collector no evidence has been adduced in the order that the screws in question are known as such in the commercial and trade parlance and not as parts of watches." A sample affidavit reads as follows : "I, Swarnjit Singh s/o Sunder Singh, Partner of M/s. Sona Trading Co., Josan Market, Hall Bazar, Amritsar hereby solemnly declare and affirm : That we are dealers in watches and we also deal in watches1. manufactured by M/s. Purewal & Associates Limited, Jubbar-173225, Distt. Solan (H.P.). That alongwith watches we also buy the necessary components2. of the watches purchased by us including those which are manufactured by M/s.....
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....l's order with reference to an order of the Collector (Appeals) in Western Coalfields Limited case dated 8-5-1978. It reads as follows :- "This does not mean that we disagree with the finding in the Order dated 8-5-1978 of the Appellate Collector of Central Excise, Delhi, cited by Shri Mathur, in which he had held 9 specified articles as not falling within the scope of Item 52. We would merely observe that the Appellate Collector had in the case of each of those articles gone into its description as well as its function and held that were not bolts and screws within the meaning of Item 2. Many of them were massive articles, weighing from 21 to 56 kgs. each, and one could say even at first sight that such articles would hardly be known in the market as bolts or screws. That case illustrates the type of extreme case where an article, although loosely described as a bolt or screws cannot in fact be regarded as a [bolt] or screw as commonly understood." (Emphasis supplied) While the Tribunal was prepared to accept the order of the Appellate Collector dated 8-5-1978 as above, we fail to understand why the same principle has not been applied to the facts of this case. If the screws....
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....erred further appeal to the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal (herein- after called "the Tribunal"). Before the Tribunal, the Revenue has placed a write-up on the functions of connection rod bolts. Photocopies of material from technical publications have also been placed before the Tribunal. The appellants on their part placed another write-up on the connecting rod bolts signed by its Deputy Manager (Finance) and photocopy of a note dated 5-10-1984 from the Assistant Director of Automotive Research Association of India. 16.Before us the materials in question were produced and we could appreciate the conclusion that they are nuts and bolts as commonly understood though they differ in shape and are manufactured to order. Though the learned Counsel for the appellants attempted to take us through various decisions to convince us that the articles in question will not fall under Item 52, we are not convinced to accept that the materials placed before us cannot be called as nuts and bolts. In Paragraph 32 and 33, the Tribunal has observed as follows :- "Material regarding the goods now under consideration has32. been given in the "write-up" filed by the Departme....