SURYA OFFSET Vs. COMMISSIONER OF C. EX., AHMEDABAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant is engaged in the work of printing and during the visit on the basis of intelligence, it was found that the appellants were manufacturing and clearing printed articles of stationery such as bank slip books, BSNL forms, application forms and receipts of educational institutions, receipt book in respect of various customers, progress reports of children in school, certificate, cash memo, school leaving certificates, stickers etc. A show cause notice was issued proposing to classifying these items under Chapter Heading 48.20 of Schedule to Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 (CETH) and not under CH 49.11 as claimed by the appellant. Thereafter, after adjudication proceedings, the original adjudicating authority in his order confirmed the duty demand of Rs. 1,28,621/ -, imposed equal amount of penalty under Section 11AC of Central Excise Act, 1944, ordered recovery of interest and also imposed penalty of Rs. 5,000/ - under Rule 27 of Central Excise Rules, 2002. The appeal filed by the appellant was rejected in the impugned order and hence the appellant is before us.

(2.) ON merit of the classification proposed by the Revenue, it was submitted by the learned Counsel for the appellant that the articles produced by the appellant are not at all classifiable under CETH 48.20. He drew our attention to the relevant chapter heading, chapter note of Chapter 48.20 as well as CETH 49.11 and submitted that the goods are clearly covered by CETH 49.11 only. He submits that all the products are printed articles and it is not correct to call them as manufactured and cleared. He explained each and every document and submitted that in all documents, printing was essential and view taken by the original adjudicating authority that these are in the nature of forms and they are required to be filled in and therefore they come under Chapter 48.20, is not correct. He also submitted that only manifold business forms and interleaved carbon sets would come under CETH 48.20 and none of the products in dispute can come in this category. He also submits that in case of articles printed for Som -Lalit Institute of Management Studies, the product gives details of activities of school, conditions of its admissions etc. and therefore it is in the form of brochure/leaflet/printed article and therefore should be classified under CH 49.01 or 49.11. He also drew our attention to the Chapter Note in Chapter 49 which says that the Chapter 49 covers all printed matters in which printing is essential and use is determined by the fact of its being printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations. Further, he also drew our attention to the fact that the colour books and drawing books are also covered by CETH 49 and colour books and drawing books would need to be filled up. Therefore, view taken by adjudicating authority that since columns are required to be filled in, the product are classifiable under CETH 48.20 is not correct.

(3.) LEARNED SDR reiterated the observations and the logic adopted by the original adjudicating authority and submitted that the impugned order is legally appropriate.