1997 (1) TMI 76

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....ine this appeal against a judgment and order of the Customs, Excise & Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal. 2.The appellants are a refinery, recognised to be such by the Union of India. They manufacture ethylene, butylene and propylene ("the said products"). It is their contention that the said products fall within Item 11AA of the Excise Tariff and that they are entitled to the benefit of an Exemption Notification issued in respect of that Item on 21st December, 1967, as amended from time to time, under Rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules. The Revenue contends, basing itself on a Trade Notice dated 24th November, 1984, that the said products are manufactured from raw naphtha and, therefore, are not classifiable under Item 11AA but under the....

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....ing on a judgment of the Gujarat High Court, it held that for a product to be excisable under that Item it "must be the immediate result of refining of crude petroleum". The said products were not derived directly from the crude petroleum but were obtained from raw naphtha purchased from oil refineries. Accordingly, the Tribunal accepted the contention of the Revenue that the said products were not excisable under the said Item but under the residuary Item 68. 5.Learned counsel for the appellants placed reliance upon the judgment of this Court in The Tata Oils Mills Co. Ltd. v. Collector of Central Excise - 1989 (43) E.L.T. 183 (S.C.). The question before this Court related to an Exemption Notification; it exempted "soap as is made from ....

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....roduct in such refining. 7.Learned counsel drew attention to the judgment of the Gujarat High Court, upon which the Tribunal had relied (Nav Bharat Industries (P) Ltd. v. Collector of Customs, Madras - 1983 E.L.T. 1134). Upon the assumption contended on behalf of the Revenue that processed oil ceased to bear the character of lubricating oil and became a new chemical compound, it was there observed that the product derived from refining crude petroleum would be covered by Item 11A, but if a different commodity was produced or made by subjecting the "products derived from refining of crude petroleum" to a process, it would not fall within the plain language of Item 11A (now Item 11AA). Learned counsel submitted that the raw naphtha, produc....