1. The question involved in this appeal is whether Stamping Foils were covered by entry No. 12 "Buckles and other embellishments for foot wears" occurring in Notification No. 29/69-Cus., so as to attract the concessional rate of duty provided for in this Notification.

2. The case was heard on 4-1-1983. Shri S D. Nankani, arguing for the appellants, stated at the outset that though in their written appeal the appellants had made a grievance of denial of personal hearing before the Appellate Collector, they did not wish to press for the same and they wanted the Tribunal to decide the matter on merits. He then presented samples of Stamping Foils and a few fancy ladies' chappals to explain the nature of the article imported and the manner of its application to decorate foot wear. He referred to the following portion from the order of the Appellate Collector of Customs, Bombay bearing No. Section 49-1204, 1076, 1077 1O78/8OR dt. 18-8-80 :-

Stamping foil is a foil of about say 6" width in a running length and is supplied in rolls. In some of the goods before me the running length in individual rolls is as much as 120 metres. Similarly the width varies from 150 mm to as much as 640 mm (say 6" to about 26"). These stamping foils are used for impressing or impregnating a decorative design on so many goods including of course leather manufactures and leather foot wear. The stamping foil is placed on the piece to be decorated. Then a die made out exactly to meet the required design to be impressed will press on the stamping foil. It could be only pressure or heat or both. Only that part of the stamping foil on which the die of the individual design presses becomes one with the material to be embossed or decorated. The design alone will get cut out or separated from that continuous sheet of the stamping foil. The remaining part of the stamping foil is a remnant waste. (It could no doubt have some use for recycling the material). Thus the stamping foil is used for decorating/ornamenting/embellishing different commodities including leather manufactures. As far as these facts are concerned, there is no dispute between the appellants and the department.

3. Shri Nankani then referred to the Import Trade Control Policy (For Registered Exporters), Volume II, for the period April 1976 to March 1977, to show that import of Stamping Foils was allowed against export of foot wear, vide item D. 2-1 of the shopping list contained in the said Policy. He stated further that the appellants were actual users of Stamping Foils and they had imported the impugned consignment against an Actual User Licence, that there was no condition either in the licence or in the relevant entry of Notification No. 29/79-Cus., that Stamping Foils must be used for foot wear only, that the goods were capable of being used on foot wear and the fact that they were commonly so used was not disputed by the Department, that the whole object of using Stamping Foils was to impart beauty, decoration or ornamentation to the foot wear and that for this reason Stamping Foils came in the category of "embellishments" as per the meaning given to this expression in the Oxford English Dictionary as well as the Webster Universal Dictionary. Finally, Shri Nankani argued that the principle of Ejusdem Generis was not applicable to entry "Buckles and other embellishment for foot wear" since "Buckles" was not a genus but a specific item (vide, AIR 72 SC 1863).

4. On behalf of the Department, Shri Chatterjee did not dispute that Stamping Foils were used for imparting beauty, adornment and ornamentation to foot wear. He stated that the objection of the Department was that Stamping Foils, in the form imported, were not embellishments in themselves but were only an aid or a base to transfer embellishment on to the article stamped.

5. We have given our earnest consideration to the matter. It is by now well settled that words and expressions in taxing statutes, unless defined in the statute itself, hav