Sujata V.Manohar, J.- - (1.) THE Judgment of the court was delivered by
(2.) THE appellants in Civil Nos. 1744-45 of 1988 are importers of stainless steel circles. THE appellants have filed the present appeals against an order of the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate tribunal holding that stainless steel circles imported by the appellants are classifiable under Customs Tariff Entry 73.15(2 instead under Tariff Entry 73.15(1 as contended by the importers. THE appellants in Civil Nos. 10334-36 of 1995 are Union of India. THEy have challenged a decision of the Madras High court holding that the stainless steel circles imported by the respondents therein are classifiable under Customs Tariff Entry 73.15(1 and not under Customs Tariff Entry 73.15(2 as contended by the appellants therein. THE Madras High court has followed an earlier 90 decision of the division bench of that court in Venkateshwara Stainless Steel and Wire Industries v. Union of India in so holding. All these appeals raise a common question regarding the classification of stainless steel circles imported by the assessees. For the sake of convenience, we are referring to the facts in Civil Nos. 1744-45 of 1988. In or about October 1980 the appellants imported stainless steel circles. The Customs authorities levied and collected duty on stainless steel circles so imported under Customs Tariff Heading 73.15(2. The standard duty of customs under that heading was 300% which was reduced by Notification dated 15/7/1977 and the effective duty was 220% which was levied and collected. The importers contended that the correct classification of the goods so imported was under Customs Tariff Heading 73.15(1 and the rate of duty was 60% which, by reason of a Notification dated 18/6/1978, was reduced to 35%. The appellant has lost in the departmental proceedings and hence the present appeals.
(3.) THE relevant tariff entry, at the material time, was as follows:________ JUDGEMENT_88_6_1997Html1.htm Entry 73.15 sets out that it will cover, inter alia, stainless steel in the forms mentioned in Headings Nos. 73.06/07 to 73.14. These earlier Headings 73.06/07 to 73.14 deal with iron and steel products. The forms of iron and steel items which are mentioned in these entries, inter alia, are puddled bars, pilings, ingots, blocks, lumps, coils for re-rolling, bars and rods, angles, shapes and sections, hoops and strips, sheets and plates and so on. Heading 73.13 deals with sheets and plates of iron or steel, hot-rolled or cold-rolled. It is divided into two parts: (1 Not elsewhere specified and (2 Tinned sheets and plates. Circles are not expressly mentioned in any of these entries. Entry 73.15 which deals, inter alia, with stainless steel, is also divided into two parts: (1 Not elsewhere specified and (2 Coils for re-rolling, bars, rods, wire rods, strips, sheets and plates of stainless steel. Sub-heading (2 clearly refers to certain specific forms of stainless steel which 91 are mentioned therein, namely, coils, bars, rods, wire rods, strips, sheets and plates. Forms which are not expressly dealt with in the second sub-heading will fall under the first sub-heading which is in the nature of a residuary sub-heading covering all types and forms of stainless steel material which does not fall under sub-heading (2.;