Judgment

S.H. KAPADIA, J.- The short question which arises for determination in this civil appeal filed by the assessee under Section 35-L(b) of the Central d Excise Act, 1944 is whether the intermediate product produced in the manufacture of zinc in the assessees factory is marketable and if it is marketable then whether the product is to be classified under Tariff Heading 28.43.

2. The assessee is a fully owned Government of India undertaking in the business of manufacturing zinc in its factory. In the course of extraction of zinc from zinc-silver concentrate, a mixture or a combination of zinc chloride, silver chloride, lead and other material emerges from which, by further treatment, sulphates of all other material are filtered out leaving behind the residue of silver chloride.

3. According to the Department, silver chloride thus produced in the factory of the assessee is an assessable commodity liable to duty under Tariff Item 2843.10. According to the Department, the said product is in the form of white paste and that the assessee opts for the slurry form of silver chloride as it is convenient to extract silver and separate other residues of metals subsequent to the stage of