METAL FOREINGS PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The main question for determination in this Letters Patent Appeal is whether the steel flanges manufactured by the appellants are classifiablefor payment of excise duty under tariff item No. 26AA(ia) or under item No. 68 of the First Schedule to the Central Excies and Salt Act, 1944 or both. Briefly, the relevant facts are as follows :-

(2.) The appellant company manufactures a number of steel products by forging process. The process of manufacture of their forged products consists of cutting of steel, pre-heating it, heating and beating of steel material till the final shape nearest to the shape desired by the customer and/or specifications is achieved. Thereafter, the extra/unwanted material is removed by cither trimling or by gas cutting or by skin cutting and/or by rough machining, to achieve the shape and section nearest to the forged steel product required by the customers. These shapes and sections' are subjected to further processes of polishing and drilling, to make them suitable and identifiable as parts of machinery. Mostly the products are sold after processes of machining, polishing and drilling are done but, sometimes, these are also sold without such processes, if desired by the customers. According to the appellants, the dispute in this a/peal is only with .regard to flanges and no other product The claim of the appellants is that flanges are classifiable for payment of excise duty only under tariff item 26AA(ia) and under no other tariff item. Tariff item 26AA reads as under : '26AA.: Iron or steel products are as follows, namely :-

(3.) Tariff item No. 26AA was inserted by Act No. 22 of 1962. However, in the year 1962, the sub-item number of present (ia) was (i). Tariff item No. 26AA(i) as extracted above, was not there in the year 1962. In the year 1963, by Act No. 13 of 1963, tariff item No. 26AA(i), as it now stands,.was inserted and original tariff item 26AA(i) was renumbered as (ia), and since then the position remains the same.