HIND SYNTEX LTD Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner M/s. Hind Syntex Ltd. , which is a Company duly registered under the Companies Act, 1956, which has a factory in village Bibrod, district Dewas, where they are engaged in the manufacture of manmade yarns with different blends such as cellulosic spun fibre and non-cellulosic polyester waste. According to the petitioner the raw material for the above blended yarn is cellulosic fibre and non-cellulosic polyester waste; that the petitioner has been importing in India the non-cellulosic polyester waste as polyester waste through the Customs Department and that the petitioners have purchased the same polyester waste from the Indian Market. Further according to the petitioners, in order to keep the Industry running the petitioners decided to use non-cellulosic waste, the cost of which is considerably less than that on non-cellulosic fibre and thus started manufacturing yarn from the above waste by blending the same with cellulosic fibre by describing the product as 'non-cellulosic waste-cellulosic blended yarn". In the said blended yarn, according to the petitioner, there is always predominance of cellulosic fibre.

(2.) FURTHER according to the petitioners under mistake and impression that the said product was dutiable under Tariff Item 18 (III) (ii), paid duty on the said blended yarn under the said sub-clause (ii) of Tariff Item 18 (III) from 4-11-83. Thereafter the petitioners came to know from other industries, namely M/s. Madhumilan Syntex (P.) Ltd. , Biora and M/s. Rajasthan Syntex Ltd. , Udaipur who are manufacturing identical yarn as the petitioners are manufacturing, that the said product was dutiable under sub-clause (i) of Tariff Item 18 (111) and not under sub-clause (ii) of Tariff Item 18 (111) and accordingly their classification had been approved provisionally by the proper authorities. Further, according to the petitioners they submitted the classification list of their product on 29-10-83 to the Superintendent, Central Excise, Range Dewas (Annexure-4 ). In the said classification list they claimed that their product would be dutiable under Tariff Item 18 (III) (i) of the Central Excise Tariff as the product manufactured by them was a blend of Cellulosic fibre and non-cellulosic waste in which the cellulosic fibre predominates in weight.

(3.) THE classification list was returned by the Superintendent, Central Excise, Range Dewas, as per Annexure-5 dated 8-11-83. The petitioners, therefore, sent a letter to the Superintendent, Central Excise, Dewas requesting him to forward the classification list to the Assistant Collector, Central Excise Division, Ujjain, who is the proper officer to approve or reject the classification list (Annexure-6 ). However, the Superintendent, Central Excise, Dewas, did not forward the said classification list to the Assistant Collector, Central Excise, Ujjain, deliberately, though he was duty bound and obliged to forward the same to the Assistant Collector, Central Excise, Ujjain.