G. Sankaran, Member (T)

1. The captioned proceedings instituted by the Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred on it under Section 131(3) of the Customs Act 1962 (as it stood at the relevant time), have come on transfer to this Tribunal in terms of Section 131 (B) of the said Act, to be disposed of as if they were appeals filed before the Tribunal. All the appeals involve a common dispute and are, therefore, being disposed of by this common order.

2. The dispute is whether Polyethylene Glycol 300-P (PEG, 300--for short) and Polypropylene Glycol (PPG, for short) imported by the appellants fell for classification under heading No. 38.01/19(1) or 39.01/06 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (CTA, 1975--for short). The Appellate Collectors of Customs at Madras and Bombay held, by their impugned orders, that the former was the correct heading as claimed by the appellants whereas the show cause notices issued by the Central Government take the tentative view that the latter is the correct heading.

3. The facts relevant to the Premier Tyres cases are that Premier Tyres imported, prior to 1-9-1978, a number of consignments of PEG 300 (300 stands for the m