Judgment:
1. In this appeal filed by the Revenue, the Order-in-Appeal dated 18-3-1991 passed by the Collector of Customs, Madras is under challenge. The matter relates to the classification of the goods imported which had been described in the Bill of Entry as calibration source. The goods were originally assessed to the customs duty under Heading No. 90.22 which covered the apparatus based on the use of X-rays or of Alpha, Beta or Gamma radiations, whether or not for medical, surgical, dental or veterinary uses including radiography or radiotherapy apparatus, X-ray tubes and other X-ray generators, high tension generators, control panels and desks, screens, examination or treatment tables, chairs and the like. The importers requested for re-assessment on the ground that the calibration source imported by them worked on the principle of heat produced by resistence to electric current and should have been classified under sub-heading No. 8514.10.
Heading No. 85.14 covered industrial or laboratory electric (including induction or dielectric) furnaces and ovens; other industrial or laboratory induction or dielectric heating equipment. Sub-heading No.8514.10 covered resistance heated furnaces and ovens. After taking note of the submissions made by the importers and after referring to the harmonised system of nomenclature explanatory notes at Page 1352 the Assistant Collector of Customs re-assessed the goods under Heading No.85.43 which covered electrical machines and apparatus having individual functions not specified or included elsewhere in Chapter 85. On appeal the Collector, Customs (Appeals), Madras observed that according to the catalogue the goods were land refractory cavity calibration source designed for the testing and precise calibration of most industrial radiation thermometer. The isothermal enclosures provide a highly uniform temperature source along the full length of the cavity... "used for calibration of thermocouples by the comparision method". In the invoice the goods were described as Infra Red Pyrometer calibrating source (furnace) ... with 16 calibrating appertures. He held that the goods were classifiable under Heading No. 85.14 of the Customs Tariff.
3. We have heard Shri A.K. Agarwal, SDR and have gone through the facts on record.
4. We find that the importers had claimed assessment under subheading No. 8514.10 of the Customs Tariff which cover resistance heated furnaces and ovens. Catalogue referred to in the Order-in-Appeal nowhere described the goods as furnace or oven. The goods were meant for testing and calibration of industrial radiation thermometer. The purpose of the goods imported was not for heating but for providing a highly uniform temperature source along the length of the cavity.
5. The appellate authority had observed that as under sub-heading 8514.40 other induction or dielectric heating equipment were also covered, it was not proper to classify the goods under sub-heading No.85.43 of the Tariff. The scope of the sub-heading No. 8514.40 explained in the Explanatory Notes to the harmonised commodity description and coding system in Volume 4 at page 1353 as under :- (II) OTHER INDUSTRIAL OR LABORATORY INDUCTION OR DIELECTRIC HEATING EQUIPMENT The heading also includes electric induction or dielectric heating equipment, even if not in the form of a furnace or oven. This equipment (used mainly for the heat treatment of small articles) consists essentially of electrical equipment for producing high-frequency oscillations, mounted together with the appropriate plates or coils, often of special design for the particular articles to be treated.
(1) Machines with induction coils for heating by induction objects made up of materials which are good conductors of electricity, by means of low, medium or high-frequency power (e.g., machines used for superficial hardening of crankshafts, cylinders, cog wheels or other metal parts; machines for melting, sintering, annealing, tempering or preheating metal parts).
(2) Machines with electrodes serving as a capacitor (e.g., in the form of plates, bars) for dielectric (capacitive) heating of objects made up of materials which are non-conductors or bad conductors of electricity, by means of high frequency power (e.g., wood-drying machines; machines for preheating thermohardenable moulding materials in the form of pellets or powder, etc.).
Some special types of equipment are designed for the progressive heat-treatment of a bar passed through the coil, or for the repetitive treatment of a series of articles.
Rotary converters and high-frequency generators when presented together with heat-treatment equipment are also classified in this heading. When presented separately, they fall in Heading 85.02 or 85.43, as the case may be.
However, machines for induction treatment used for soldering or brazing metals and machines for heat-treatment by dielectric loss used for welding plastics or other materials (e.g., high frequency pressing machines for welding and high-frequency line welding machines) fall in Heading 85.15. Presses incorporating heating devices are also excluded (Chapter 84).
This heading also covers furnaces and other appliances specially designed for the separation, by pyrometallurgical processes, of irradiated nuclear fuels, appliances for the treatment of radioactive waste (e.g., for the firing of clays or glass containing radioactive residues or for the combustion of graphite or radioactive filters) or those for the sintering or heat-treatment of fissile material recovered for recycling. However, appliances for isotopic separation are classified in Heading 84.01.
6. We find that the goods imported were nowhere akin to the description as explained in the HSN.7. The scope of Heading No. 85.43 is very wide and as the goods were neither in the nature of furnace or oven and were also in the nature of induetion, dielectric heating equipment, we consider that the view taken by the adjudicating authority that the goods were classifiable under Heading No. 85.43 of the Tariff was correct.
8. Taking all the relevant facts and considerations into account we set aside the impugned order-in-appeal. As a result the appeal filed by the Revenue is allowed.