Full Judgment
2. Arguing for the Revenue, Shri K.K. Jha, ld. SDR while reiterating the grounds adopted by the department submitted that the copper wire bars out of which copper rods are manufactured are not in crude form under Tariff Item 26A(1) as there is a separate entry for copper wire bars under Tariff Item No. 26A(1A). He said that copper rods are not manufactured exclusively out of copper scrap or out of copper scrap in combination with copper in any crude form and accordingly Notification No. 119/66 is not applicable. He also contended that the copper rods are manufactured out of combination of copper scrap with wire bars, zinc and tin which are not listed as raw materials in the aforesaid notification.
3. Shri M.A. Rangaswamy, ld. counsel appearing for the respondent submitted that Notification No. 119/86 specifically exempts copper in any crude form as can be seen from the clauses of notification and if the item is made of some portion of the copper with or without other components, there is no bar for denying the exemption and it is even as per the findings of the Asstt. Collector, the items are made of copper in addition to other items and since the item is made of copper, there is no justification for denying the benefits in terms of the notification. He contended that copper wire bars are also crude form of copper and besides the list of crude forms of copper given in the notification, there can be many more forms of crude copper and that copper wire bars is one of such crude forms falling under Item IV of the list given in the Notification. He also said that Central Board of Excise and Customs in their Circular 2/3/66-CX. 3, dated 24-8-1968 have clarified that the word 'bar' occuring in Item 26A means ingot bars and/or wire bars (produced by casting process). He submitted that the appellants have purchased the raw materials through open market and the wire bars which form only a small portion of total raw materials and portion of copper was pre-dominent as can be seen from the description of product as given in the classification list.
4. We have considered the submissions made by both sides. We find that the products in question are manufactured by the party out of the old scraps, copper wire bars etc. It is not even the case of the department that it was not made of copper but according to department, since it was made of old scrap of copper in addition to wire bar, wire bars are neither copper in crude form nor copper scrap. The Collector has analysed this point and observed that raw materials described at No.(v) of the notification is copper in any crude form which includes wire bars and even the Tariff description given under Item 26A(1) clearly clarifies that copper in any crude form includes ingots, bars, blocks, slabs, billets, shots and pellets. We concur with this view that wire bars are to be deemed to be bar which are included in the definition of copper in any crude form given under Tariff Item 26A(1) and the party's product is manufactured from a mixture of old scrap of copper and copper wire bars. We do not find any justification in denying the benefit in terms of the aforesaid notification. We also take note of the circular issued by the Govt. of India as per No. 138/8/81-CX. 4, dated 24-2-1982 with reference to the scope of Notification No. 119/66 which reads as under : "It has now been decided in partial modification of the Trade Notice No. 233/81 referred to above that the benefit of exemption under Notification No. 119/66, dated 16-7-1966 in the manufacture of copper and copper alloys would be admissible even if other metals such as zinc, lead, tin or nickel etc. have been added to it provided the copper content is predominant. It is further decided that the above instructions will apply mutatis mutandis in relation to the goods specified in Tariff Items 25, 26, 26A, 26AA, 26B, 27 and 27A even if in the manufacture of these goods other metals are also added as a technological necessity in combination with the base metals already specified in the above tariff items." 5. Since we do not find any infirmity in the impugned order passed by the Collector (Appeals), we uphold the impugned order and in the result, the appeal filed by the department is hereby dismissed. Cross objections filed by the party are also disposed of accordingly in the above terms.