Full Judgment
According to the Revenue the product is electrical insulator and hence falls for classification under CET Heading 85.46 covering "electrical insulators of any material".
2. We have heard Shri Satnam Singh, learned SDR and Shri Nikhil Sanghvi, Director of the respondent company.
3. One of the reasons put-forth by the lower appellate authority for holding that the product is classifiable under Chapter 48 is that the goods are in running length which is in contrast to insulators which have fixed dimensions. The other reasons are ISI specifications describing the product as paper or paper board having electrical insulating properties and that if the product is classified under Chapter 85, then no electrical grade insulating paper can be classified under CET sub-heading 48.11 thereby rendering Notification 64/88 totally redundant. We note that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held in the case of Collector of Central Excise, Hyderabad v. Bakelite Hylam Ltd. reported in 1997 (91) E.L.T. 13 (S.C.) that there was a specific entry in the CETA, 1985 dealing with electrical insulators of any material viz. Heading 85.46 and, therefore, insulated laminates and glass epoxy laminates which are used for electrical insulation will not fall under Chapter 39 but will fall under Chapter 85 under entry 8546.00. The Apex Court has held that the sheets having insulated properties and used as electrical insulators cannot be taken out of the category of electrical insulators, only because sheets will have to be cut into requisite shape. The above decision has been followed in the case of CCE v. Wood Polymers Ltd. reported in 1998 (97) E.L.T. 193 (S.C.). In the light of the above decisions which are applicable on all fours to the facts of the present case, we hold that the electrical grade insulating paper manufactured by the respondents herein falls for classification under CET sub-heading 8546.00, set aside the impugned order and allow the appeals.