Customs, Excise and Gold Tribunal - Tamil Nadu
Cheran Spinners Limited vs Commissioner Of Central Excise on 25 June, 2008
ORDER P. Karthikeyan, Member (T)
1. M/s. Cheran Spinners Ltd (Appellants), Erode are in appeal against an order passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals), Trichy.
2. The issue involved in the instant appeal is exigiblity to excise duty of the activity of assembling a Generator Set at site by the assessee using bought-out components. Vide Final Order No. 1624/99 dated nil, the Tribunal had remanded the issue for fresh adjudication in the light of the judgments of the apex Court in the case of Mittal Engineering Works (P) Limited v. CCE ; Sirpur Paper Mills Limited v. CCE, Hyderabad and the decision in Triveni Engg. Works Ltd v. CCE, Allahabad .
3. Before the Commissioner (Appeals), the assessee had submitted that bought-out duty paid parts had been erected piece by piece at the site after constructing the platform. The Generator Set had come into existence only after its erection and installation and was not first assembled and then erected. Therefore, the Generator Set assembled at the factory of the assessee was not goods and they were not marketable. The Commissioner (Appeals) passed the impugned order following the ratio of Sirpur Paper Mills Ltd. v. CCE, Hyderabad and decided that the appellant had manufactured excisable goods.
4. Heard both sides. We find that, in the instant case, the appellants had purchased components such as alternator, diesel engine, control panel, base frame, radiator, fuel tank, batteries etc from M/s. Powerica Limited in 1990-91. After a civil foundation was erected the base frame was fastened to the concrete base. Alternator and engine were coupled and installed on the base frame and then, the radiator. We find that the D.G set is assembled and bolted to the concrete platform so that its operation is vibration free. The D.G set could be easily unbolted and bought and sold. Therefore, D.G set assembled at site cannot be held to be immovable property. They are goods and are marketable. In the Sirpur Paper Mills Ltd (supra) case relied upon by the Commissioner (Appeals), the apex Court had held that paper making machine assembled and erected at site was not an immovable property. Just because the plant and machinery were fixed in the earth for better functioning, they did not automatically become an immovable property. The paper making machine was marketable as it could be dismantled and sold. In view of this ratio of the judgment of the apex Court, D.G set assembled at the site has to be held to be marketable and excisable. In the circumstances, we do not find any reason to interfere with the impugned order which upheld the order of the original authority confiscating the DG set, demanding duty of Rs. 2,07,900/-, imposing penalty of Rs. 500/- on the appellants and ordering redemption of DG set on payment of a fine of Rs. 1000/-. The appeal is dismissed.
(Dictated and pronounced in open court)