Beltek (India) Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Central Excise - Court Judgment

Excerpt:
2. applicant filed this application for waiver of pre-deposit of duty amounting to rs. 59,22,182/- and equal amount of penalty and penalty of rs. 2 lakh on the director. in this case, vcd/dvd/multi players are being imported into india and before clearance, the goods at the time of import of the individual unit packages already contained markings such as, name of the commodity, net quantity, month of import, mrp, name of the company marketing the goods as required under the exim policy and also as per the provisions of standards of weights and measures act. thereafter, the goods in question were purchased and after purchase, the applicants were putting the sticker bearing the chassis no. and warranty seal void. the demand was confirmed on the ground that fixing of original stickers on.....

Judgment:
2. Applicant filed this application for waiver of pre-deposit of duty amounting to Rs. 59,22,182/- and equal amount of penalty and penalty of Rs. 2 lakh on the Director. In this case, VCD/DVD/Multi players are being imported into India and before clearance, the goods at the time of import of the individual unit packages already contained markings such as, name of the commodity, net quantity, month of import, MRP, name of the company marketing the goods as required under the EXIM Policy and also as per the provisions of Standards of Weights and Measures Act. Thereafter, the goods in question were purchased and after purchase, the applicants were putting the sticker bearing the Chassis No. and warranty seal void. The demand was confirmed on the ground that fixing of original stickers on the imported goods amounts to manufacture in terms of provisions of Section 2(f)(iii) of the Central Excise Act.

3. The contention of applicant is that at the time of import the goods, brand name of Beltek is already mentioned on the packages and all the other relevant information such as name of the commodity, net quantity, month of import, MRP etc. was also mentioned on the goods. They are only putting sticker bearing chassis No. and warranty. The contention is that this putting of sticker does not amount to manufacture, the revenue submitted that after clearance of goods they were tested and sticker were put on the goods and it also amounts to manufacture.

4. We find that as per definition of manufacture the manufacture includes any process, which in relation to the goods specified in the Third schedule, involves packing or re-packing of such goods in a unit container or labelling or re-labelling of containers including the declaration or alteration of retail sale price on it or adoption of any other treatment on the goods to render the product marketable to the consumer.

5. In the present case, the applicants only undertaking some sample testing and putting the warranty sticker and chassis No. Prima facie in view of the provisions of Section 2(f) we find that applicant have a strong case in their favour. Therefore, pre-deposit of whole of the duty and penalty is waived for hearing of the appeal. Stay petitions are allowed.