BLUE STAR LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The main question that arises for determination in this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution is whether Walk- in- Cooler manufactured by the petitioner-company are ordinarily sold or offered for sale as ready assembled units so as to attract the payment of excise duty of 20% ad valorem under Central Excise Tariff Item No. 29A(1).

(2.) The petitioner is a private limited company which carries on business, inter alia, of manufacturing Walk-in-Cooler which are used for preservation of food, blood plasma, medicines and other perishable articles. Walk-in-Cooler comprise of various component parts, such as cooling coils, blower motors, condensing units, controls, condensers, thermostats, over-load protection thermal relay and panels. in addition, Walk-in-Cooler also necessitate ancillary equipments. Such as ducting, copper tubing, wiring and piping. None of the parts of the Walk-in- Cooler can work independently as a cooling inachine unless all these parts are installed and assembled together. The distance between Walk-in-Cooler and the condensing units varies according to the requirements and specifications of each individual customer, the variation being as much as 50 feet or more. The petitioner-company manufactures in its factory panels lined with G.I. sheets, wooden flooring, insulated doors lined with G.I. sheets and cooling coils. the other parts to wit, compressors, condensing units, thermostats etc., are purchased by the petitioner-company from the market after paying excise duty on the same. These facts have not been controverted by the respondents, viz. the Union of India, and the Assistant Collector of Central Excise.

(3.) According to the petitioner-company the Walk-in-Cooler manufactured by it and erected and installed at the sites of its various customers are not ordinarily sold or offered for sale by the petitioner-company as ready assembled units and hence do not attract the 20% ad valorem duty recovered under Tariff Item No. 29A and which duty aggregating to Rs. 4,10,726.06 the petitioner- company has paid for time to time under protest.