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Precedent should be followed only so far as it marks the path of justice, but you must cut the dead wood and trim off the side branches else you will find yourself lost in thickets and branches. My plea is to keep the path to justice clear of obstructions which could impede it. 5.6 In Indian Rare Earth Ltd.s case the facts are that the appellant, a Central Govt. Undertaking is engaged in separation of valuable mineral sands from the sand available on sea beach. Rare minerals separated by them are Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Sillimanite, Garnet and Monazite. The process carried out by the appellant are that the sand is dredged from the sea beach and sand slurry is subjected to spiraling and as a result the heavier minerals are separated. By this process about 80% of the lighter sand is eliminated, the remaining 20% are brought to the Mineral Separation Plant by pumping the slurry through pipe. There the individual minerals are separated by processes like drying, electro-static separation, magnetic separation and gravity separations. The final recovery of minerals is less than 10% of the sand dredged from the sea of shore. The department sought to levy duty on these minerals considering the process of extraction of such minerals amounts to manufacture as defined under Section 2(f) of Central Excise Act, 1944. Considering the findings of the Commissioner, the argument advanced by both sides and the case laws on the subject, the Tribunal recorded its finding as follows:-