Indian Metals And Ferro Alloys Ltd. ... vs Collector Of Central Excise, ... on 22 November, 1990
3A. Basic Customs duty - Heading 49.01 covers printed books, brochures, leaflets and similar printed matter, whether or not in single sheets. All the sub-headings of 49.01 carry nil rate of duty. The case of the department is that the goods in question are covered by Heading 49.11. Heading 49.01 is a residual heading and unless the goods are excluded from Heading 49.01, they cannot be classified under 49.11. Heading 49.01 has therefore, a clear priority over Heading 49.11. This principle has been settled by the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys Ltd. v. Collector of Central Excise reported in 1991 (51) E.L.T. 165 (S.C.). The Supreme Court has observed that "It is a settled principle that unless the department can establish that the goods in question can, by no conceivable process of reasoning, be brought under any of the specific items mentioned in the tariff, resort cannot be had to the residuary item." It is the submission of the importer that the goods are books. They contain technical information for technical people who will be using the software. Therefore, the primary requisite of a book namely that it must convey some valuable information or material to the reader, is satisfied. The Technical Manual imported contains textual matter which is clearly valuable and informative. The layout of the manual, its contents, running page numbers of different chapters clearly show that the manual is a book. In the alternative, the importer submits that Heading 49.01 covers brochures, leaflets and similar printed matter. The term 'brochure' is defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, as 'a pamphlet or leaflet, especially one giving descriptive information'. Moreover the word 'similar' qualifies all the proceeding articles namely, printed books, brochures, leaflets. The preface to the manual shows that information therein includes -