M. Santhanam, Member (J)

1. Appeal No. 1311/83 was filed before the Tribunal by the Revenue against the orders of Collector of Central Excise (Appeals), Bombay, passed in Order-in-Appeal No. A-379-380/B1-S1-S2/83 dated 8-3-1983. For completion of record, a Supplementary Appeal has since been filed and the Application for condonation has not been opposed by the Respondents.

2. The delay in filing the Supplementary Appeal is condoned.

3. The Respondents are manufacturers of 'Hospital and Pharmaceutical Appliances and Heavy Duty Industrial Canteen Equipment'. The following 14 items were classified by them under T.I.68 in their classification list No. 106 dated 27-3-1979 :-

(1) Storage Tank

(2) Cooking Range (Electric operated and gas operated)

(3) Baking Oven

(4) Deep Fat Fryer

(5) Bain Marie

(6) Sterilizing Sink

(7) Expresso Coffee Machine

(8) Steam Jacketed Vessel (Steam operated)

(9) Bread Toaster

(10) Bulk Cooker Fryer

(11) Chapatty Plate/Chapatty Puffer and Chapatty Plate/Puffer

(12) Dish Washing Machine

(13) Potato Peeler and

(14) Masala Grinder

4. The Asstt. Collector held the view that products 2 to 14 appeared to be classifiable under T.I.33C as they were covered under the Explanation given below the description of goods under T.I.33C. A notice was issued to the Respondents to show cause as to why the classification of the items should not be approved under T.1.33C, In their reply, the Respondents contended that earlier classification lists had been approved by the Department under T.1.68. Their representations were considered and orders were passed on 19-6-1980 holding that the products at serial Nos. 2 to 14 were rightly classifiable under T.I.33C in the light of the Explanation - I to the said Tariff Item. Another show cause notice was issued on 8-9-1980 demanding differential duty amounting to Rs. 1,91,622.20 for the period 1-3-1979 to 30-6-1980. The Asstt. Collector confirmed the demand except in respect of the item Steam Jacketed Vessel.

5. Aggrieved against both these orders, the Respondents filed Appeals before the Collector. The Collector (Appeals) held in by a common order that as per the literature and the information supplied by the Respondents, items 2 to 14 could not be termed as domestic appliances because of their value, size, capacity and voltage of power required to operate these equipments. He held that they were classifiable under T.1.68 and not T.I.33C. The Revenue has come forward with these Appeals challenging the orders.

6. In the grounds of Appeal it is averred that the appellate authority has not taken into account Explanation - I appended to T.1.33C, which reads as under :-

"Explanation - 1 Domestic electrical appliances' means electrical appliances normally used in the household and similar appliances used in hotels, restaurants, hostels, offices, educational institutions, hospitals, train kitchens, aircraft or ship's pantries, canteens, tailoring establishments, laundry shops and hair dressing saloons".

It is submitted that the products manufactured by the Respondents are Heavy duty canteen equipments and are similar to the domestic electrical appliances such as cooking ranges, deep fat fryer, chapatty plates, dish washing machines, etc. If the Tariff description should be interpreted to apply only to the domestic appliances then the Explanation would be rendered redundant and meaningless.

7. Shri J.N. Nigam, S.D.R., drew our attention to the Explanation and submitted that in their classification list the Respondents themselves have admitted that these equipments are "used in industrial canteen and five-star hotels where bulk cooking is involved for serving foods to hundreds of people at a time." The catalogue issued for these Heavy duty canteen equipment reads as follows :-

"Complementing this is the Company's heavy duty industrial catering equipment, manufactured to serve the needs of hotels, restaurants, hospitals, industrial canteens and many other institutions where bulk cooking is undertaken."

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