S. Venkatesan, Sr. Vice-President

1. This is an appeal against the order of the Collector of Central Excise (Appeals), Bombay, relating to the classification under the Central Excise Tariff Schedule of two products manufactured by the appellants. These have been described in the order-in-original as "various types of products obtained by lamination of one or two layers of paper with one or two layers of jute with bitumen as bonding agents". Specifically, two varieties of goods are concerned. The first is one consisting of two layers of paper with one layer of hessian in between with bitumen as a bonding agent. The other consists of one layer of paper with one layer of hessian, with bitumen again being the bonding agent. The lower authorities have held that the goods were classifiable under sub-item (2) of Item 17 of the Central Excise Tariff Schedule, as "paper-board and all other kinds of paper". As against this, the appellants contend that the goods are classifiable under Item 22A ibid as "jute manufactures".

2. Appearing for the appellants, Shri Kapil submitted that in both varieties of the product, the weight of the hessian was 65 to 70% of the total weight of the product. I