Page 264 - ELT_1_1st April 2020_Vol 372_Part
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150                         EXCISE LAW TIMES                    [ Vol. 372

                                            that they have made payment of duty of Rs. 25 Lakhs on 30-11-2015 and in
                                            the written submission, claim to have paid duty of Rs. 7,63,99,000/- upto
                                            February, 2016 under protest. I, therefore, order for appropriation of the du-
                                            ty, paid against this demand, upon verification by the field formations.”
                                            9.  Ld. Advocate on behalf of the appellant, would submit that the issue
                                     which arises for consideration in these appeals are as to whether the goods man-
                                     ufactured by the appellant are classifiable as Chewing Tobacco (CT) under Chap-
                                     ter Heading 2403 99 10, or whether as Zarda Scented Tobacco (ZST) under Chap-
                                     ter Heading 2403 99 30. The tariff does not define the product Zarda Scented To-
                                     bacco (ZST)  and Chewing Tobacco (CT), however, Bureau of Indian  Standard
                                     (BIS) provides the characteristics of  ZST and CT separately  vide entry  Nos.
                                     1523441994 and 1530411994 respectively. The BIS specification is as under;

                                       S.         Criteria            Chewing Tobacco         Zarda scented
                                      No.                                                        tobacco
                                       1. Moisture content                   27                    15
                                       2. Nicotine                            8                     4
                                       3. Total Ash                          25                    28
                                       4.  Acid Insoluble ash                 5                     4

                                            10.  Ld. Advocate, therefore, submits that the test reports in respect of
                                     various samples that were drawn by the Department and tested by the CRCL, do
                                     not give specific findings on dependent upon these parameters without which
                                     the report is inconclusive.
                                            11.  The Adjudicating Authority has relied upon the result of the sam-
                                     ples without having considered the test memo which were  forwarded to the
                                     CRCL. It was submitted that no test memos have been drawn in respect to sam-
                                     ples and thus have been tested in absence thereof, and hence it would not be
                                     possible to co-relate the results in test report with samples drawn so as to classify
                                     the products manufactured by the appellant as Zarda Scented Tobacco (ZST) and
                                     not the chewing tobacco (CT) as claimed by the department. The reliance was
                                     placed on the decision of M/s. Hindustan Ferodo Limited v. CCE, Bombay, 1997 (89)
                                     E.L.T. 16 (S.C.)].
                                            12.  Ld. Advocate also placed reliance in the decision of this Tribunal in
                                     case of Urmin Products Pvt. Ltd. v. CCE [2010 (256) E.L.T. 597 (Tri.)], wherein it is
                                     held that the tariff has not defined the expression Chewing Tobacco or Zarda Scent-
                                     ed Tobacco. The products,  therefore, have to be classified  upon the description
                                     given by the manufacturer on the pouches and on the basis of common parlance
                                     test and established practice in trade. Ld. Advocate also placed reliance on the
                                     decision in the matter of Flakes-N-Flavourz v. CCE, Chandigarh, 2015 (327) E.L.T.
                                     435 (Tri.), wherein the ratio laid down in the  Urmin Products (supra) has been
                                     followed. Ld. Advocate also contended that it has  been admitted that goods
                                     manufactured by the appellant have been stated to be premium chewing tobacco
                                     as per para 4.1 of SCN, and no market inquiry or other evidences have been ad-
                                     duced by the Department which indicated that goods were sold by the appellant
                                     as anything but CT. It was thus, submitted that the goods in question are nothing
                                     but CT and the classification of the products manufactured by the appellant as
                                     ZST is without any legal basis.
                                            13.  Ld. Advocate further submitted  that CRCL test reports had not
                                     been accepted by the appellants and they have requested for retest of the sample,
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