(A.K. Sikri and Rohinton Fali Nariman, JJ.)
Commnr. of Central Excise, Mumbai _______ Appellant
v.
M/s. Classic Strips Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. _________ Respondent(s)
Civil Appeal Nos. 4228-4229 of 2001, decided on March 9, 2015
With
Civil Appeal No. 4642 of 2004
The Order of the court was delivered by
Order
C.A. No. 4642/2004
A preliminary submission is made by Mr. Ravinder Narain, learned counsel for the respondents that the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal South Zonal Bench at Chennai has decided the matter in favour of the appellant, not only on merits but has quashed the demand raised also on the ground that it is barred by time. He has brought to our notice that the impugned demand pertains to the period from October, 1991 to September, 1996 and the show cause notice was issued only on 4th November, 1996, which was beyond the prescribed period of six months from the date when the appellant had furnished all the particulars and classification list that had been approved by the department. These facts could not be disputed by the learned counsel for the appellant. We, accordingly, dismiss the appeal on the aforesaid ground alone.
C. A. No(s). 4228-4229/2001
These appeals have been filed by appellant against the order no. C-II/248-49/WZB/2001 dated 1st February, 2001 passed by the Customs, Excise and Gold Appellate Tribunal, West Zonal Bench at Mumbai in Appeal No. E/2611/2000 & 2612/2000/Mum. By the said order the tribunal allowed the appeals which were preferred by the respondents herein questioning the classification as was done by the authorities. As per the respondents, goods in question fall in under heading 49.01 whereas, the department sought to classify it under the heading 94.05. The aforesaid two entries read as follows:
“2. For the purpose of Chapter 49, ‘printed’ also means reproduced by means of a duplicating machine, produced under the control of a computer, embossed, photographed, photo-copied, thermocopied or typewritten.
Heading No. | Sub-heading No. | Description of goods | Rate of duty |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) |
49.01 | Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, type-scripts and plans |
|
|
| 4901.10 | Transfers (decalcomanias) | 20% |
| 4901.20 Maps and hydrographic or similar charts of all kinds including atlases, wall maps, topographical plans and globes, printed | Nil |
|
| 4901.90 | Other | Nil |
94.05 | 94.05.00 Lamps and lighting fittings including search-lights and spotlights and parts thereof, not elsewhere specified or included; illuminated signs, illuminated name-plates and the like, having a permanently fixed light source, and parts thereof not elsewhere specified or included. | 20% |
|
The manufacturing process of the goods in question is explained in the order dated 1st May, 2000 of the Office of the Commissioner of Central Excise and is reproduced below:
“28. Shri Veiny Ranch, G of M/s CSPL in his statement dt. 28.11.98, explaining the process undertaken by them to produce what they describe as “printed trade advertising material” has stated that the required image is first printed digitally on electrostatic paper using an electrostictic machine and toners; in the next step of the process the image on the electrostatic paper is transferred on to the surface (such as vinyl or flex material) on which the image is required to be reproduced; for requirement of glow signs [where the image is illuminated form the back] the plotted vinyl is further pasted on polycarbonate sheets which in turn are to be fitted into the prefabricated boxes. Shri Parikshat Shrivastav, Assistant Manager (Production) of the firm, in his statement dt. 29.11.98 has similarly stated that the designs/images for the illuminated signs and glow signs is first digiatlly printed on paper, and the design/image is then transferred from the paper to other media like flex or vinyl according to the clients requirements by using a transfer machine. The process employed by M/s CSPL for making their product was explained at length during the personal hearing held on 25.1.2000 and has been elaborated in the written brief No. CSPL/29 16? March 6, 2000 which summaries the submissions made during the persona hearing. It has been explanted that the file containing the text and pictures which has to be made into trade advertising material is recovered from the customer in the form of a computer floppy. The floppy is then loaded into a computer controlled printing machine which prints the text/pictures on a sheet of electrostatic paper which too is loaded into the machine. The electrostatic paper, now with the required matter printed on it in mirror image form, is fed into a machine known (loosely) as a “laminator”, into which is also loaded the substrate (such as vinyl sheet, self adhesive plastic film, etc.) on which input (text/picture) has ultimately to be reproduced. In the laminator, the electrostatic paper is pleased on the vinyl sheet, etc., with the image-bearing surface of the substrate. This combination is then subjected to the process of heating [under pressure], which results in the electrostatic paper sticking to the vinyl sheet/plastic film and the image being simultaneously transferred from the former to the surface of the latter. The substrate with the electrostatic paper struck to it is then taken out from the laminator, and fed into a machine known as a “separator”, which separtes the two, the vinyl sheet or plastic film, with the required image or text reproduced on it, to be used as the trade advertising material. If it is to be used as a glow sign, it is pasted on a polycarbonate sheet.”
It is abundantly clear from the aforesaid details that the process of manufacturing undertaken by the respondent i.e. printing is done by using thermocopied machine and therefore, it would fall under the head 49.01. By no stretch of imagination, such goods can be classified under the head 94.05 as no lamps and lighting fittings or search lights or spotlights are used by the respondent for the purpose of illuminated signs or illuminated name plates and sign boards. We, therefore, agree with the finding of the Tribunal. On the facts of these cases, we find no merit in these appeals and the same are dismissed.
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