Per P.K. Kapoor :

This is an appeal against the order dated 30.12.92 passed by the Collector of Customs (Appeals) Bombay. The appellants filed Bill of Entry No. 4858 dated 16.11.91 for the clearance of a consignment of Membrane Support Substrates, Product Carrier and Casting Powder. In the Bill of Entry, the appellants declared the goods as classifiable under Tariff Heading 8421.99 as parts of R.O. Membrane System (Water Treatment Plant). The appellants also claimed the assessment of the goods at the concessional rate of duty in terms of Notification No. 155/86-Cus. dated 1.3.1986. The Assistant Collector observed that the goods in question being in running length could not be treated as 'parts' for R.O. Membrane System. He held that goods being 'raw materials' were not eligible for exemption under Notification No. 155/86-Cus dated 1.3.1986. Being aggrieved by the order passed by the Assistant Collector, the appellants filed an appeal before the Collector (Appeals) who allowed the appeal on the ground that the disputed goods in running length could be made usable by simple cutting in rolls into required size.

2. Appearing on behalf of the appellant, Shri B.K. Singh, Learned SDR stated that the observation of the Collector (Appeals) that cutting of the material in the form of rolls is not recognised as manufacture is erroneous. He stated that in the case of Dipen Textiles (P) Ltd. Vs. Collector of Central Excise reported in 1992 (62) ELT 430 the Tribunal has held that slitting and cutting of jumbo rolls of video magnetic tapes into pancakes amounts of manufacture. He submitted that the imported goods being in running length had to be deemed as raw materials. He added that in the absence of any definition of 'parts' in Notification No. 155/86 in terms of the Supreme Court's judgment in the case of Star Paper Mills Ltd. Vs. Collector of Central Excise reported in 1989 (43) ELT 178 it would be permissible to refer to the dictionary meaning for determining the meaning of 'parts'. He stated that according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, 7th Edition "part" means "component of a machine etc". He added that Blacks law Dictionary, also defines a "part" as "something essentially belonging to a larger whole an integral portion". Shri Singh contended that the goods in question having been imported in running length, they could not be deemed as "parts" since they cannot form a component of any machine or appliance and it cannot be said that in the form in which they have been imported they can form an integral part of any item. He submitted that the order passed by the Collector (Appeals) was not sustainable since in interpreting the term "parts" in the relevant notification he had overlooked the requirement that exemption notifications have to be interpreted strictly according to the actual words used therein. In support of his contentions he cited the following case law:-