TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2003 (4) TMI 104
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ms duty under Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). Feeling aggrieved by the said decision of the Tribunal, the Department has preferred these appeals. 3.The question for consideration in the present appeals is as to whether the respondent is liable to pay additional customs duty as provided in Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 on the imported low ash coking coal. There is no dispute about the respondent having paid the basic customs duty on the imported item at the rate of 5%. Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 provides for levy of additional duty equal to excise duty. The same is reproduced as under : "Levy of additional duty equal to excise duty: Any article which is imp....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....r manufactured in India. At the relevant time, the goods in question were exempted from payment of Central Excise duty under Notification No. 75/84-CE, dated 1-3-1984. However, the Revenue relied upon the provisions of the Coal Mines (Conservation and Development) Act, 1974 (hereinafter referred to as "The Coal Mines Act"). In order to urge that additional excise duty under Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act was still leviable, reliance was placed on Section 6 of the Coal Mines Act which provides for levy of excise duty on all coal raised and dispatched and on all coke manufactured and dispatched from the collieries in India. While Section 6 talks of imposition of excise duty, Section 7 of the Coal Mines Act provides for imposition of cust....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... duty of excise levied under Section 6." 6.The learned Counsel for the appellant argued that since excise duty on coal and coke was imposed under Section 6 of the Coal Mines Act, even though coal and coke were exempted from general excise duty as per the notification referred to above, the respondent was still liable to pay additional customs duty under Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act. The excise duty levied under Section 6 of the Coal Mines Act was an excise duty as envisaged under Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act which rendered the respondent liable to pay the additional customs duty. So far as imposition of additional customs duty under Section 7 of the Coal Mines Act is concerned, it need not detain us because admittedly the C....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....raised" instead of "manufactured". According to the learned Counsel for the respondent, the controversy is concluded as per the decision of this court in Hyderabad Industries Limited v. Union of India [1999 (108) E.L.T. 321] which is a Constitution Bench decision of this court. Hyderabad Industries was a case of import of asbestos fibre into India. The additional customs duty was sought to be levied under Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act. The court observed that an earlier three Judges Bench of this court in Hyderabad Industries Limited v. Union of India [1995 (78) E.L.T. 641] had already concluded that separation of asbestos fibre from the parent rock was not result of process of manufacture and was not a new and commercially viable art....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ly understood that there is no question of manufacturing or producing coal. Coal is required to be raised and hence a different phraseology has been used in the said Section. Even Section 7 of the Act only empowers the Central Government to impose on all coal imported or brought into India a duty of customs at the rates equivalent to the rates of duty of excise leviable under Section 6. It nowhere provides that coal is produced or manufactured in India. 10.Learned Counsel appearing for the Department, however, submitted that in imported coal ash is removed by washing process and, therefore, it would amount to manufacturing process. In our view, this submission is also without any substance because washing of coal would not amount to prod....