CC Vs. ANDHRA PRADESH PAPER MILLS LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a Revenue appeal against Order -in -Appeal No. C.Cus.95/98 dated 4.2.98 passed by the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Chennai by which he has accepted the claim of classification of the items imported by the respondents. The description of the items as mentioned in the Bill of Entry is "spares for paper machines, suction box top covers, strips and doctor blades" under chapter heading 8439.99 with the claim of benefit of Notification No. 156/86 read with Notfn. No. 180/90 and the second item is "foils". They claimed classification in respect of these items under the same chapter heading as claimed for the first item with benefit of the said notification. As the same was not classified under the claim made by them, and the claim with regard to second item was altered to chapter heading 3920.10, they filed refund application claiming benefit of classification under the Customs Tariff chapter heading No. 8439.99 with claim of benefit of Sl. No. 3 of the Notification No. 156/86 -Cus dated 1.3.86 as amended which grants partial benefit to item falling under chapter heading 84.39 with description "paper making machinery and components thereof. The Ld. Commissioner after due consideration of the catalogue, technical literature, function of the item as part of paper making machinery upheld their contention. The findings recorded by him is noted herein below:

(2.) REVENUE in this appeal contends that Section Note 1(a) of Section XVI excludes transmission of conveyor belts or belting of plastics of Chapter 39 and therefore the item is excluded from the purview of Chapter 84 as the item is a polyethylene films in rolls or as 'belting -conveyor transmission, they do not fall under chapter heading 8339.99 and as such cannot be granted benefit of notification. They are also not machinery parts as the item is plastic film in rolls and are to be assessed as falling under 39.20 or 39.21.

(3.) WE have heard Ld. DR for the Revenue and Shri P.V. Naidu, Vice President (Commercial). LD. DR merely relied on the aspect pertaining to classification of the item under Chapter 39 in view of item being a plastic one and clearly falling under the said chapter note. On a specific query from the Bench as to how the item is excluded from the Section note 1(a) of Section XVI of the tariff and as to whether the item is transmission or conveyor belts or belting of plastics of Chapter 39, Ld. DR had no answer for this, while respondent's representative filed a written submission alongwith catalogue and literature. It is submitted that the item in question is specifically manufactured in terms of the drawings and part number and used as parts of paper making machinery; that they are not foils of plastics as a film and also they are not in film rolls. They function as part of the paper making machine for dewatering the pulp so that the formation of the paper is achieved. It is supplied in sizes of 3750 mm length x 62 mm wide x 25 mm thick with different blade angles of 1 deg and 2 deg as per drawing L -1513 -each 5 Nos. for their paper machine No. 3 and in size of 3800 mm length x 50 mm wide x 25 mm thick with three different blade angles of 1,1.5 and 2 degrees as per drawing L5 -260/3 each 40 Nos. The catalogue at page 5 also states that the same is installed in CCESTILITE V20 and they are not used as transmission or conveyor belts or belting. The Commissioner, after noting about the entire product and the catalogue, has rightly upheld the contention in the light of the judgments noted by him in the order. The representative referred to the invoice wherein the part number and the drawing number has been shown including the flow chart as to how the item is fixed to the machine and it does not act as a transmission or conveyor belts or belting, We have carefully considered these submissions made by both sides and have perused the entire documents including the literature, catalogue, section notes and tariff entries and the provisions of the Notification No. 156/86 -Cus dated 1.3.86. Ld. Commissioner has examined the issue threadbare and has clearly noted that the item in question is a part of paper making machinery and covered by the benefit of the notification. He has also noted the applicability of Customs Notification No. 156/86 by applying the judgment rendered in Jindal Strips Ltd., 1996 (94) ELT 234 (T) and Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd., 1996 (17) RLT 94. On a careful consideration, we notice that section note l(a) of Section XVI reads as follows: -