TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (10) TMI 24
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.... from an analysis of the import data of the appellant for the period commencing from 01.03.2021 undertaken by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Hyderabad Zonal Unit. In the course of such scrutiny, certain imports made by the appellant came under examination, giving rise to three distinct issues: - (a) The irregular availment of exemption from Basic Customs Duty under Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Cus. dated 01.03.2005, as amended, in respect of certain machinery imported for manufacture of Solar Photovoltaic Modules; (b) Short-payment of I.G.S.T. due to misclassification of certain imported goods described as machinery/spare parts under Schedule I, Sl. No. 234A (IGST @5%) and Schedule-II, Sl. No. 201A (IGST @12%) instead of Schedule-III (IGST @18%); and (c) Alleged misuse of exemption benefit provided under Sl. No. 18 of Notification No. 25/1999-Cus. dated 28.02.1999, as amended, in respect of imported Solar PV Backsheet. 4. The first issue arose in respect of six Bills of Entry under which the appellant imported machinery and equipment used in the manufacture of Solar Photovoltaic Modules, classifying the goods under Customs Tar....
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.... the individual cells. It supplies the bus ribbon and undertakes soldering of the respective cells within the matrix, thereby enabling the electrical output generated by the solar cells to be harvested. iv. The Laminator Machine constitutes the subsequent stage of manufacture and is employed for laminating the assembled solar module so as to ensure its durability and longevity, particularly having regard to the exposure of solar panels to varying climatic conditions. For this purpose, two layers of EVA and glass are arranged in the sequence of Glass/EVA/Solar Cell Strings/EVA/Tedlar Polyester/Tedlar. The assembled five-layered module is placed in the laminator and heated to a maximum temperature of 135°C for approximately 22 minutes. The resulting laminate is completely sealed and is intended to protect the solar cells against environmental exposure, thereby contributing to the longevity of the finished solar module for a period stated to be at least 25 years. 4.2. On the basis of the functional description of the imported equipment, the machines were accordingly considered by the Revenue to be falling outside the purview of Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Cu....
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.... below:- Sl. No. Chapter Description of imported Goods Description of Finished Goods 18. 28, 38, 39, 70, 74, 76 Aluminium paste; ethylene vinyl acetate sheets (EVA); primer for EVA; Crane glass; tedlar coated aluminium sheet; phosphorous oxychloride; halo carbon (CF4)/Freon gas; tinned copper interconnect; toughened glass with low iron content and transmittivity of min. 90% and above; multilayered sheets with tedlar base; fluro polymer resin; ultra high purity (UHP) silane in UHP nitrogen; UHP silane; diborane in UHP silane; MOCVD grade phosphine in UHP silane; silver sputtering target; high purity tin tetrachloride; nitrogen trifluoride of 99% purity and above. Solar cells/modules 6.2. The imported Solar PV Backsheet was procured by the appellant from M/s. Changzhou Fufeng Material Technology Co. Ltd., China. The controversy in this regard centred around the expression "Tedlar base" occurring in the exemption entry. The allegations proceeded on the basis that "Tedlar" is a proprietary trade mark associated with M/s. DuPont, USA, and that the Chinese supplier had no authorisation from M/s. DuPont to manufacture or supply a product bearing the said proprie....
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....the technical particulars relevant to the imported backsheet. 8. Upon completion of the investigation, a Show Cause Notice dated 13.09.2023 was issued to the appellant proposing, inter alia, recovery of differential customs duty amounting in aggregate to Rs. 3,28,19,257/-, together with applicable interest under Section 28AA of the Customs Act, 1962, and proposing consequential action in respect of the imported goods and the appellant. The total differential duty proposed under the three issues comprised Rs.2,93,47,918/- towards duty on the ground of ineligibility towards the benefit provided under Notification No. 24/2005-Cus. Rs. 22,00,549/- towards differential IGST on the goods covered under Schedule-III of the IGST Act attracting IGST @18%, and Rs. 12,70,790/- on the ground of the Solar PV Backsheets in question not being covered by Notification No. 25/1999-Cus. 8.1. The appellant participated in the adjudication proceedings and a personal hearing was afforded on 16.02.2024. During the course of the personal hearing and in its written submissions, the appellant admitted the differential IGST liability pertaining to Issue No. 2 and agreed to pay the same. In respect of th....
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....ported machinery did not perform the functions contemplated under Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005 dated 01.03.2005, as amended. The adjudicating authority also adverted to the Technical Certificate dated 22.02.2024 issued by Shri Indrajit Sengupta, B.Tech., IIT, Kharagpur, but did not consider the same to be of assistance to the appellant. The authority observed that the certificate itself recorded that the legal aspect of the matter had not been examined by the certifying person and, on that basis, proceeded to hold that the certificate had no relevance to the issue under adjudication. The authority further relied upon the statement of Shri Sujit Saha, Chief Financial Officer of the appellant, recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 on 13.03.2023. On a cumulative consideration of the aforesaid material, the benefit of Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005 dated 01.03.2005, as amended, was denied and the corresponding differential duty liability was confirmed. 9.2. As regards the second issue relating to discharge of IGST at the rate of 18%, the adjudicating authority noted that although the appellant had paid the differential IGST amounting to Rs.22,00,549/-....
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....o. 25/1999-Cus. dated 28.02.1999 are concerned, together with the consequential findings relating to confiscation, redemption fine, interest and penalty. The differential IGST liability pertaining to Issue No. 2, having been admitted and paid by the appellant, does not constitute a surviving dispute in the present appeal. 13. During the course of hearing, the Ld. Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant advanced various submissions, which can, inter alia, be broadly summarized as under: - I. Entitlement of the Imported Machinery to Exemption under Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Customs dated March 1, 2005 as Apparatus for Drawing of Circuit Patterns on Sensitized Semiconductor Materials (i) That the first and principal issue concerns the appellant's entitlement to exemption under Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Customs dated March 1, 2005, in respect of the MBB-PV Cell Soldering Stringer Machines, Auto Lay-up Machines, Auto Bussing Machines and Laminator Machines imported under tariff item 8486 20 00 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Sl. No. 12 exempts "apparatus for the projection or drawing of circuit patterns on sensit....
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....guage actually employed. The same decision further recognises that where the notification refers to tariff chapters, the relevant Chapter Notes form part of the interpretative context of the exemption. (v) The ordinary meaning of the word "draw" also militates against the narrow construction adopted in the said impugned order. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, Sixth Edition, Volume 1, A-M, gives several meanings of the verb "draw" which demonstrate that the expression is not confined to 'pictorial sketching' or 'optical projection'. Among the various meanings mentioned for the word 'draw' in the Dictionary, Sense 8 includes "Construct (a ditch, canal, wall) from one point to another"; Sense 23 includes "Gather together, collect, assemble"; Sense 24 includes "bring about as a result"; and Sense 30 includes causing something to "come out or appear". The same work, under the compound "draw loom", describes a loom in which warp threads are pulled in a particular order to produce a pattern. These meanings are consistent with the formation of a circuit pattern by arranging, connecting and assembling semiconductor cells and conductive elements in a p....
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....rough copper ribbon into connected strings; that the soldered connections enable the photovoltaic module to transmit electricity; that the Auto Lay-up Machine aligns the strings according to the final panel drawing or pattern and produces a matrix structure of solar cells; and that the Auto Bussing Machine interconnects the cells in the matrix through bus ribbon and soldering so that the electrical output of the cells can be harvested. These findings themselves establish the successive creation, arrangement and completion of an electrical circuit configuration. (x) The appellant's technical explanation is still more specific. The material submitted during adjudication explains that the Auto Lay-up Machine receives strings formed by the Stringer Machine and places them on glass and EVA (Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate.) in a predetermined manner keeping in view the positive and negative lines and the required series/parallel combination of the semiconductor circuit. It further records that 144 half-cut cells are arranged into 12 strings for making the final product and that the operation is undertaken for making the circuit pattern of the final module. The Auto Bussing Machine there....
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....n. The finding in paragraph 17.5.2 of the said adjudication order was instead founded upon what the authority itself described as a "cursory reading of literature on photolithography available on the internet". Such general literature concerning fabrication of 'integrated circuits' cannot displace the specific technical evidence concerning the actual function of the machinery installed and operating at the appellant's solar photovoltaic manufacturing plant. (xiv) The reliance placed upon the statement of Shri Sujit Saha, Chief Financial Officer, recorded on March 13, 2023, also does not advance the Department's case. Paragraph 17.7 of the said adjudication order relies upon his statement that the appellant was not engaged in drawing or projecting circuit patterns onto Printed Circuit Boards. Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005Customs dated March 1, 2005, however, does not refer to Printed Circuit Boards at all. It refers to circuit patterns on sensitized semiconductor materials. The statement concerning Printed Circuit Boards therefore answers a different question and cannot be treated as an admission that circuit patterns are not drawn upon or formed through the appell....
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.... sheets with tedlar base" when imported for manufacture of solar cells/modules. (ii) It is material that the contemporaneous 202223 edition of Customs Duty Rates & Exemptions, General Exemption No. 180, reproduces the relevant entry as Sl. No. 18 and not Sl. No. 18A. The entry covers goods falling under Chapters 28, 38, 39, 70, 74 and 76 and specifically includes, amongst other inputs for solar cells/modules, "tedlar coated aluminium sheet" and "multilayered sheets with tedlar base". The departmental proceedings have repeatedly described the entry as Sl. No. 18A; however, the material-time exemption entry itself is Sl. No. 18. (iii) The appellant's goods are multilayered Solar PV Backsheets used in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic modules and contain a polyvinyl fluoride, or PVF, outer layer. The departmental case does not proceed on the footing that the goods are not multilayered backsheets, that they are not used in the manufacture of solar cells/modules, or that they do not contain PVF. The denial of exemption rests essentially upon the proposition that the expression "Tedlar" means only material manufactured by or under authority from M/s DuPont and that ....
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....25/1999-Customs dated February 28, 1999 itself. In the consolidated material-time notification, Sl. No. 38 separately refers to "Polyvinyl fluoride (TEDLAR); Tedlar; Aluminium Tedlar; Toughened Glass; Silver paste" for manufacture of solar cells/modules. The use by the Central Government of "Polyvinyl fluoride (TEDLAR)" in one entry and "multilayered sheets with tedlar base" in Sl. No. 18 is a strong contextual indication that, within this exemption notification and within the solar manufacturing trade to which it is directed, the expression "Tedlar" is being used descriptively in relation to PVF material. It does not support the introduction of an unstated DuPont-source condition. (viii) The relevant interpretative principle is settled. Reliance is placed on the following: - * Union of India v. Garware Nylons Ltd., 1996 (87) E.L.T. 12 (S.C.) : (1996) 10 SCC 413 * Commissioner of Customs (Import) v. Welkin Foods, 2026 (395) E.L.T. 273 (S.C.) : (2026) 38 Centax 104 (S.C.) (ix) The appellant has placed precisely such material on record. The article titled "Types of Solar Backsheet in Solar Panel" published by Vishakha Renewables discusses Polyvinyl....
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....ndustry context to denote the PVF layer or PVFbased material employed in such backsheets. (xiii) The finding in paragraph 9 of the said impugned order that the exemption is "explicitly restricted" to a trademarked product of DuPont is therefore unsupported by the language of the notification. The exemption nowhere states that the material must originate from DuPont. Nor does it require the importer to establish a chain of trademark authorisation from DuPont to the foreign manufacturer. The said impugned order thus converts the description of the material into an origin or brand condition which the relevant Notification did not prescribe. (xiv) The approach is also internally inconsistent. Paragraph 18.5 of the said adjudication order accepts the proposition that Tedlar is a trade name for PVF film, yet proceeds to treat the trade name as necessarily importing an exclusive manufacturer requirement. The former does not lead to the latter. A trade expression may originate from a proprietary name and yet acquire a recognised descriptive meaning within a particular industry. The proper enquiry in a fiscal notification is how the expression is used in the relevant statu....
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....the differential IGST liability and the consequential interest thereon. It does not amount to an admission that the goods were mis-declared, that they became liable to confiscation under Sections 111(m) or 111(q) of the said Act, or that the appellant became liable to redemption fine under Section 125 or penalty under Section 112(a)(ii) thereof. Those consequences require satisfaction of their respective statutory requirements and cannot follow automatically merely because the appellant has chosen not to contest a differential tax liability. (iii) The dispute concerning the goods covered by Table-II was essentially one concerning the applicable rate of integrated tax. The Bills of Entry disclosed the imported goods, their descriptions and the rate of tax claimed by the appellant. There is no finding that any goods were concealed, that their identity was suppressed, that fictitious documents were produced, or that the imported goods were different from the goods actually declared before Customs. The subsequent acceptance of a higher rate of integrated tax does not retrospectively convert a disclosed classification or rate claim into a misdeclaration attracting confiscation.....
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...., the appellant relies on the following case-law: - * Commissioner of Customs (Import), Mumbai v. Finesse Creation Inc., 2009 (248) E.L.T. 122 (Bom.) * Weston Components Ltd. v. Commissioner of Customs, New Delhi, 2000 (115) E.L.T. 278 (S.C.) * Commissioner v. Finesse Creation Inc., 2010 (255) E.L.T. A120 (S.C.). * JMS Mining Private Limited v. Commissioner of Customs (Port), Kolkata, 2026 (6) TMI 959 - CESTAT Kolkata. (ix) There is an additional infirmity in the quantification of redemption fine. A single composite redemption fine of Rs. 1,00,00,000/- has been imposed against goods cumulatively valued at Rs. 37,59,80,159/- covering three entirely different disputes, without separately identifying the fine attributable to the machinery exemption issue, the Solar PV Backsheet issue and the differential IGST issue. Once the appellant succeeds on either or both of the exemption disputes, the very valuation base upon which the composite fine was imposed ceases to remain intact. There is no mechanism in the said adjudication order by which the fine can thereafter be segregated or sustained issue-wise. (x) More fundamentally, the said....
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....subject imports, the consequential demands of differential duty and interest, as also the findings of confiscation and imposition of redemption fine and penalty, be quashed, and thus to allow the appeal, granting other relief as may be deemed just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case. 14. On the other hand, the Ld. Authorized Representative for the Revenue justified the impugned order and reiterated the findings recorded therein. His submissions, inter alia, are summarized below: - (i) That the benefit of Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005 dated 01.03.2005 is conditional upon the imported goods answering the specific description prescribed therein, namely, apparatus for projection or drawing of circuit patterns on sensitised semiconductor materials. The imported MBB-PV Cell Soldering Stringer, Auto-Layup Machine, Auto-Bussing Machine and Laminator are, by their admitted functions, machines employed in the manufacture and assembly of Solar Photovoltaic Modules and do not perform the function contemplated by the said exemption entry. The mere fact that the machines are used in a manufacturing process involving semiconductor solar cells cannot, by itse....
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.... specialised machinery, components and raw materials required for the manufacture, assembly and completion of Solar Photovoltaic Cells and Modules. It is in the course of such regular importation of goods, undertaken as part of its manufacturing activity, that the consignments forming the subject matter of the present proceedings came to be imported by the appellant by claiming the benefit of the respective exemption notifications. 18. The factual edifice of the present proceedings lies upon an analysis of the import data of the appellant undertaken by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Hyderabad Zonal Unit, in respect of imports made from 01.03.2021 onwards and the investigation initiated subsequent thereto, which, upon its culmination, gave rise to three distinct issues. The first related to the claim of exemption from Basic Customs Duty in respect of specified machinery imported under Customs Tariff Item No. 84862000 in terms of Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Cus. dated 01.03.2005, as amended. The second concerned the rate at which Integrated Goods and Services Tax had been discharged in respect of certain imported goods covered by the relevant Bills of En....
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....issues, leaving the consequential questions of interest, confiscation, redemption fine, and penalty to be decided thereafter. Issue No. 1 - Eligibility of the impugned machinery for the benefit of Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Cus. dated 01.03.2005 21. We now proceed to examine the first issue, which constitutes the principal point of dispute in the present appeal, in the light of the description of the imported machinery, the precise language and ambit of the exemption entry, and the material placed before us. 21.1. It is the specific case of the appellant-importer that the imported capital goods, namely, (i) MBB-PV Cell Soldering Stringer, (ii) Auto-Layup Machine, (iii) Auto-Bussing Machine and (iv) Laminator Machine, fall within the ambit of Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Cus. dated 01.03.2005, as amended, and are thereby eligible for the benefit of 'nil' rate of Basic Customs Duty provided thereunder. For better appreciation of the facts, the text of the said entry is reproduced below : - Sr. No. Heading, subheading or tariff item Description 12 8486 20 00 Apparatus for the projection or drawing of circuit patterns on sensitized semi-....
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.... Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Module (commonly referred to as a solar panel), represents the subsequent stage of assembly in which a plurality of such photovoltaic cells are electrically and physically integrated into a single functional unit. The individual cells are arranged in a predetermined configuration and electrically interconnected, ordinarily through series-connected strings and requisite interconnections between such strings, so as to obtain the desired voltage and current characteristics. The interconnected cells are thereafter incorporated within a protective structure comprising, inter alia, glass, encapsulating material and a backsheet, thereby providing mechanical protection and resistance against environmental and climatic conditions while preserving the electrical functionality of the assembled unit. 21.4. Having noted the technical relationship between the elemental semiconductor cell and the macro-circuit module, we now proceed to evaluate whether the operations performed by the impugned machinery upon these sensitized semiconductor devices fall within the statutory scope of "drawing of circuit patterns" under the subject exemption entry. The functions performed b....
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....on requires examination not only of aforesaid notification entry in the textual setting, but also of the technical meaning attributable to the expressions "drawing", "circuit" and "circuit pattern", and their application to the actual function performed by the impugned machinery. It is in that context that the rival contentions and the technical material placed before us are required to be examined. 22. The precise statutory entry upon which the appellant has founded its claim to exemption viz. Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Cus. dated 01.03.2005, as amended, (as reproduced hereinabove) describes the eligible apparatus as "Apparatus for the projection or drawing of circuit patterns on sensitized semiconductor materials." The tariff linkage is of some significance, for the exemption is not expressed in generic terms with reference merely to machinery used in the electronics or solar industry, but is specifically tethered to a particular tariff item and to a particular functional description of the apparatus. The expression employed by the notification must, therefore, be examined in the setting in which it occurs and, at the same time, without importing into the provision....
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....9;s interpretation appears to proceed upon an understanding that the expression is necessarily confined either to the graphical delineation of an object upon a surface or to the exposure of a predetermined circuit image upon a sensitised semiconductor substrate, as in the process of photolithography. Such an approach, however, warrants closer scrutiny. The expression "drawing", particularly when employed in a technical, engineering or electrical context, is not necessarily exhausted by the notion of an image being graphically inscribed upon a surface. Its technical connotation may extend to the laying out, tracing, forming, configuring or establishing of a predetermined path, arrangement or pattern, depending upon the subject matter with which the expression is associated. 24.1. The "Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Sixth Edition) Vol. 1, A-M" defines "draw" inter alia to mean: - "1 The action or an act of drawing." "23 verb Intrans. & trans. Gather together, collect, assemble. ME." "44 verb trans. Devise, contrive; set in order, arrange M16-M17." 24.2. Similarly, under "draw", Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives sever....
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....spatial disposition and physical interconnection of electrical elements constitute an inseparable, foundational aspect of what defines a 'drawing' and its underlying circuit system 25. Thus, it is observed that in the technical field, the expression "drawing" is capable of embracing a representation or specification of where electrical elements are placed, how conductive paths are routed, and how the constituent elements are interconnected. It would, therefore, be improper to attribute the word "drawing" to an artificially truncated meaning merely because, in one particular branch of semiconductor manufacture, the word is associated with the photolithographic transfer of microscopic circuit geometries. The enquiry must remain directed to the words actually employed in the notification and to their meaning in the technical field in which they occur. The machines under consideration do not employ a pencil, stylus or lithographic beam in the conventional sense; nor is the appellant's case founded upon any assertion that they reproduce an artistic or graphical image. The question is rather whether, in the specialised technological context of photovoltaic manufacturing, t....
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....complete, functional electric circuit. 26.3. The treatise on 'Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes, Photovoltaics and Wind' (Duffie & Beckman, Wiley) corroborates that a photovoltaic module is an interconnected assembly of solar cells forming a complete electrical circuit. It further elucidates that the layout of string interconnects and busbars defines the equivalent electrical circuit diagram, which directly governs the module's I-V (current-voltage) characterization curve. 26.4. We may also refer to the 'HandBook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering (Luque & Hegedus, Wiley)', which outlines that the manufacturing process of PV modules involves creating an integrated electrical circuit network across multiple individual wafers. The text explicitly confirms that the stringing and bussing operation physically traces the circuit topology necessary to extract photocurrent from individual p-n junctions. 26.5. Thus, while a printed circuit board is undoubtedly one important physical medium through which a circuit may be realised, the circuit and the board are not synonymous concepts. The board is a substrate or physical platform whereas the circuit is the func....
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....pugned machinery performs photolithography. That is not what the notification, on its plain terms, says. The more germane enquiry is whether the machinery, when operating upon photovoltaic semiconductor cells, physically establishes and arranges the conductive interconnections according to a predetermined electrical configuration so as to constitute the circuit pattern of the resulting photovoltaic module. 26.8. The interpretation adopted by the adjudicating authority stems from a misconception of scale rather than a distinction in physics. The Customs Tariff and Notification No. 24/2005-Cus. do not prescribe a threshold of physical dimensions for what constitutes a 'circuit pattern'. Whether a circuit pattern is etched at the nanometer scale via photolithographic projection or drawn and soldered at the millimeter/meter scale across semiconductor cells via Multi-Busbar stringing and auto-bussing machines, the fundamental technical operation remains identical: the establishment of a predetermined, conductive circuit layout across sensitized semiconductor devices to enable electric charge flow. The Revenue's narrower construction, if accepted without further qualificat....
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....ll contacts so as to establish reliable electrical junctions through which current may flow. 28.1. The Laminator Machine requires separate notice in this context, taking note of the objection raised by the Revenue with regard to this aspect contending that its description as a mere machine employed for protecting the finished solar module. It must be noted that the laminator does not operate upon an already completed, electrically independent article in the same sense in which an external protective machine might operate upon a finished commodity. Rather, it receives the assembled stack comprising the glass, encapsulant, interconnected solar-cell strings and backsheet and, through controlled heat, pressure and vacuum, converts that assembly into the permanently integrated module structure. The appellant has specifically placed on record supporting documents in this regard, viz. United States Patent (Carey et al.) dated Jan 22, 2002, which highlights the role of the laminate in the circuit as follows: - "More specifically the solar cell module fabrication is a multi-step process consisting of electrically interconnecting an array of solar cells having a thickness of up t....
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....ised industrial process, the functional evidence emanating from a technically qualified person cannot, with respect, be brushed aside, without cogent reasons therefor. 28.5. Moreover, during the course of hearing before us, the appellant produced a further certificate dated 15.09.2026, as an improved/revised technical elucidation of the certificate earlier furnished before the adjudicating authority. The said certificate assumes particular significance since it addresses, in a more comprehensive manner, the manner in which the several stages of stringing, lay-up, bussing, soldering and lamination operate collectively to produce the electrical configuration of the photovoltaic module. The relevant portion, as obtaining from 'Schedule-A' to the said certificate, is reproduced below for better appreciation of the facts: - "The Machines and devices used for preparation and drawing of Circuit Pattern in close coordination with each other, not in isolation are briefed as per the literature supplied by the supplier that: i) Stringer machine: The solar stringer machine is used to solder solar cells together with the use of bus bars into forming strings. This category o....
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.... a particular manner so that string to string to gap is there within a tolerance level. For keeping the arrangement within tolerance level, some cameras are there which are inbuilt to machine. In this way 144 numbers of half cut cells in 12 numbers of strings are arranged for making final product. So it is clear that Auto Lay-up Machine is used in the process of manufacturing solar module. Whatever process is carried out is for making a Circuit Pattern of final product. iii) Auto bussing machine:-Tabbing and bussing are two applications that link individual solar cells together to form solar module/solar panel. These applications also provide a method to transfer power from solar cells to Junction box. From auto layup machine, specially arranged 144 numbers of half cut cells resting on rectangular glass and EVA enters into auto bussing machine, Here 10 numbers of metallic ribbons are extracted/cut for fixing/soldering in particular location to complete positive bus and negative bus (copper and tin alloy) and circuit connector at middle. After Auto Lay-up machine, strings placed upon glass is passed through doing connection, all strings are pulled up using vacuum c....
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....clear that the function of our MBB cell Soldering Stringer Machine, Auto Lay-Up Machine, Auto Bussing Machine And Laminator Machine, all are integral to the process of drawing the required Circuit Pattern for manufacturing solar panel." [Emphasis in original] 28.6. The substance of the technical certification, as extracted above, is of considerable relevance. It brings into focus the distinction between looking at each machine as an isolated piece of industrial equipment and appreciating the machinery as components of a single integrated manufacturing process. If the operation is viewed in its entirety, the individual photovoltaic cells constitute the semiconductor elements wherein the interconnecting ribbons and busbars constitute the conductive pathways, the stringing and bussing operations establish the electrical interconnections, the lay-up operation determines the spatial configuration in which those interconnected elements are deployed, and the subsequent lamination preserves and permanently incorporates the resultant electrical assembly into the completed photovoltaic module. It is, therefore, the combined operation of these machines which gives physical and electrica....
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....y stipulating that the drawing must be effected through photolithographic exposure; nor does it state that the circuit pattern must be a micro-scale pattern of the kind ordinarily associated with integrated circuits or printed circuit boards. It would, therefore, be impermissible, particularly while professing to apply a principle of strict construction, to introduce into the notification an additional qualification which the notification-maker has chosen not to incorporate. 29.1. The principle of strict construction of an exemption provision does not authorise either supplementation of the statutory language or the substitution of a presumed legislative intention for the words actually enacted. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Grasim Industries Ltd. v. Collector of Customs, Bombay [2002 (141) E.L.T. 593 (S.C.)]. In paragraph 8 thereof, the apex Court categorically laid down that no word or expression in a statutory provision or notification can be rendered redundant, unmeaningful, or superfluous and that every word must be given its full operative effect in the context of its usage, firmly holding that an interpretation requiring the addition, substitution, or rejection of statutor....
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....inery, makes it clear that the process is not one of mere physical juxtaposition of solar cells. Individual photovoltaic cells, being semiconductor electrical devices, are first electrically joined so as to create strings; those strings are then positioned in a predetermined configuration; the several strings are electrically interconnected by bus ribbons and soldered joints; and the resulting electrical assembly is thereafter permanently integrated and protected by lamination. What is thereby created is a deliberately configured network of semiconductor elements and conductive paths intended to perform a defined electrical function by means of a circuit pattern. In other words, the machinery gives physical expression to the electrical architecture of the module. 29.5. The expression "sensitised semiconductor devices" in the exemption entry provides yet another material link. The Revenue has not disputed as to the technical character of the photovoltaic cell as a sensitised semiconductor device. The impugned machinery operates upon such sensitised semiconductor cells in the very process by which their electrical interconnections are established and their predetermined configurat....
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....terdependent. To isolate them from one another would be to lose sight of the very apparatus and manufacturing process which the notification requires us to examine. 29.9. We accordingly find that the machinery in question answers the description of apparatus for the drawing of circuit patterns on sensitised semiconductor devices/materials within the meaning of Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Cus. dated 01.03.2005, as amended. The contrary construction adopted in the impugned orders rests upon an impermissibly narrow technological equation of "drawing" with photolithographic exposure and, in the process, introduces into the notification limitations which its language does not contain. Such an approach cannot be sustained. 30. Consequently, we hold that the appellant is entitled to the benefit of the exemption under Sl. No. 12 of Notification No. 24/2005-Cus. dated 01.03.2005, as amended, in respect of the impugned machinery. Accordingly, the consequential differential duty demand of Rs.2,93,47,918/-, along with interest, confirmed on this count, therefore, does not survive and hence the same are set aside. Issue No. 2 - Eligibility of the benefit under Sl. No. 18 of ....
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.... not composed of PVF. The denial of the exemption proceeds essentially upon the proposition that "Tedlar" can mean only the proprietary material manufactured by, or under authorisation from, M/s. DuPont, and that, since the Chinese manufacturer, M/s. Changzhou Fufeng Material Technology Co. Ltd., was not shown to possess any such authorisation, the imported backsheets could not answer the description "multilayered sheets with tedlar base". 31.3. The adjudicating authority, in paragraphs 18.5 and 18.6 of the Order-in-Original, proceeded substantially on this footing. While referring to DuPont literature, the authority itself noticed that "Tedlar" is a trade name for Polyvinyl Fluoride (PVF); nevertheless, it reasoned that, had the Government intended to extend the exemption to multilayered sheets containing a PVF layer irrespective of their manufacturer, it would have employed the chemical expression "polyvinyl fluoride" rather than "Tedlar" and also, that the Chinese supplier had not been demonstrated to have been authorised by DuPont to manufacture or market goods under the trademark "Tedlar". 31.4. From the language contained in the notification, we find that the expression....
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....sed, within the photovoltaic industry, as a material description associated with PVF, and not necessarily as a statutory synonym for goods manufactured exclusively by one particular proprietary source. 31.9. In this backdrop, the absence of a DuPont authorisation cannot, by itself, become the touchstone of eligibility. The adjudicating authority's reasoning that, had the Government intended to cover PVF material irrespective of its manufacturer, it would necessarily have used the chemical expression "polyvinyl fluoride", therefore does not commend itself when the notification is read in its entirety and in the setting of the very industry for which the exemption was fashioned. The legislative usage referred to above demonstrates that "Polyvinyl fluoride (TEDLAR)" and "Tedlar" have themselves been used in the exemption architecture in connection with solar-cell/module manufacture. We therefore do not concur with the inference drawn by the lower adjudicating authority that the use of "Tedlar" necessarily imports an exclusive DuPont-source condition. 31.10. It is also material that the subject goods answer the substantive description in every other respect: they are multilay....
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....contentions advanced by the appellant as regards the order of confiscation of the goods in question as well as the imposition of redemption fine. The impugned adjudication order held the goods covered by Tables I, II and III of the adjudication order, having an aggregate assessable value of Rs. 37,59,80,159/-, liable to confiscation under Sections 111(m) and 111(q) of the Customs Act, 1962, and, notwithstanding that the goods had already been cleared and were no longer available for physical confiscation, imposed a composite redemption fine of Rs. 1,00,00,000/- under Section 125 of the said Act. 33.1. We note that although the appellant has not pressed its challenge to the differential IGST liability of Rs. 22,00,549/- [pertaining to goods covered under Table II of the adjudication order] together with consequential interest thereon, they are disputing the order of confiscation and imposition of redemption fine in respect of the goods covered under the said Table-II. 33.2. Insofar as the goods covered by Table II of the adjudication order are concerned, we find that there is no finding of concealment of the goods, suppression of their identity, production of fictitious docume....
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....iability. In the present case, having already held that the goods are not liable to confiscation under Sections 111(m) and 111(q), the composite penalty of Rs. 10,00,000/- under Section 112(a)(ii) imposed upon the appellant equally loses its substratum and is accordingly liable to be set aside. 35. Taking a holistic view of the foregoing discussion, and upon a conjoint consideration of the statutory language, the technical material placed on record, the nature and function of the imported goods, and the circumstances attending their importation and assessment, we are of the considered view that the impugned order cannot be sustained to the extent presently under challenge. The principal issues, which constitute the foundation of the impugned demands and the consequential penal and confiscatory proceedings, having been examined and answered in favour of the appellant. Resultantly, we pass the following order: - (i) The imported MBB-PV Cell Soldering Stringer Machines, Auto-Layup Machines, Auto-Bussing Machines and Laminator Machines imported vide the 6 Bills of Entry [mentioned under paragraph 4 of this Order (supra)] are held to be entitled to the benefit of exemption u....