T. N. VALLINAYAGAM, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioner is a public sector undertaking jointly owned by the government of india, government of Karnataka and andhra pradesh. The petitioner is engaged in the fabrication of hydraulic gates of different types and dimensions, hoists and gantry cranes for such gates, penstock pipes, rubber seals etc. , for river valley projects, transmission line towers and sub-station structurals for power projects, e. o. t. cranes, building structurals and bridge structurals. The petitioner undertakes contracts from government departments and various electricity boards throughout india. Most of the contracts are in the nature of turnkey projects/jobs. All its products are fabricated, according to the petitioner, out of duty paid raw materials and components either purchased from the market or supplied by its customers. As primarily a contracting company, the petitioner undertakes turnkey projects on contract basis all over the country. The petitioner's customers are mostly the public works department of the state governments, state electricity boards and occasionally some public sector undertakings.

( 2 ) THE petitioner claims that it has been fabricating its products mentioned above not in their full forms, but only in parts which are then taken to the different sites for being assembled into whole by process of welding and fixing with bolts and nuts. The parts so fabricated would all be to the specifications stipulated by the customers to suit their projects or jobs. In other words, according to the petitioner, the parts fabricated for a particular project/ job will not be useful for any other project or job. These parts will all thus be utilised in the project or job, for which they have been specifically fabricated and at no point of time, they are offered for sale in the market.

( 3 ) BEFORE 1-3-1980, the parts, which were fabricated, were all classified and also assessed to duty provisionally under the erstwhile tariff item No. 68. In 1980, the petitioner filed a writ petition before this court in writ petition No. 23434 of 1980 contending that the parts fabricated in and cleared from, its factory are not "goods" within the meaning of Section 2 (d) of the central excises and salt Act, 1944, and would not, therefore, attract the central excise duty and even the main products, such as, gates, hoists, cranes, penstock pipes etc. , coming into existence after erection, cannot be treated as goods attracting central excise duty by virtue of their being embedded in earth and consequently becoming immovable. In that writ petition, the department contended that the provisional assessments in the petitioner's case are resorted to an account of the peculiar nature of clearance made by them in parts for assembling at the site which is away from the place of manufacture and for the correct assessable value at the time of assembling the parts cleared from the factory was not ascertainable. The department further contended that the petitioner has cleared the goods in parts for the sake of convenience and transportation as contracted goods as a whole, is too heavy and voluminous. Considering the questions as to whether the business activity of the petitioner constitutes manufacture of goods as contemplated under Section 2 (f) of the act to attract the levy of duty under the act? And whether the place where the alleged fabrication of structures takes place is a factory, a division bench of this court, before which the writ petition filed by the present petitioner and another was referred to for decision by the learned single judge, agreed with the contention raised by the petitioner and held that the products made by the petitioner are not liable for excise duty. This judgment, we are now informed, was taken up to the Supreme Court in civil appeal nos. 4961 to 4964 of 1989 and the Supreme Court has confirmed the division bench judgment of this court. In view of such confirmation by the Supreme Court of the view taken by

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