LexCOLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS versus M/S. MODI RUBBER LTD.
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A B COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS v. MIS. MODI RUBBER LTD. DECEMBER l, 1999 [S.P. BHARUCHA, R.C. LAHOTI AND N. SANTOSH HEGDE, JJ.] Customs Tariff Act, 1975-lmport of styrene butadiene latex- Notification No. 82186 (as amended on 2.4.1986) exempting payment of C customs duty on raw rubber, natural or synthetic, latex, natural or synthetic- Clause I A of the notification excluding styrene butadiene rubber and oil extended styrene butadiene rubber from the benefit of notification-Assessee 's claim for exemption-Allowed by Tribunal-On appeal-Held, principal clause of notification makes a distinction between 'rubber', natural or synthetic and 'latex' natural or synthetic-Exclusion Clause I A must be D construed ~ith regard to principal clause-The Tribunal justified in holding that the exclusion Clause IA was only of stjrene butadiene rubber and oil extended styrene butadiene rubber and does not cover other forms of styrene butadiene. The respondents imported styrene butadiene latex. Government by a E notification No. 82/86 (as amended on 2.4.I986) exempted from payment of customs duty raw rubber, natural or synthetic, latex, natural or synthetic, and certain other items falling within Chapter 40 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, I975. Clause IA of the said notification excluded styrene butadiene rubber and oil extended styrene butadiene rubber form the benefit F of the notification. The respondents claim for exemption was denied under Clause IA. However, the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal decided in favour of respondent assessee holding that the exclusion in clause IA was only of styrene butadiene rubber and oil extended styrene butadiene rubber and did not ·cover other form of styrene butadiene. Hence, the present appeal. G H Dismissing the appal, the Court HELD : 1.1. The Tribunal was right in holding that the exclusion in Clause IA was only of styrene butadiene rubber and oil extended styrene rubber and not cover other forms ofstyrene butadiene. II26-F-G) 124 COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS v. MODI RUBBER LTD. [S.P. BHARUCHA, J.] 125 I.2. Clause IA of the notification is in the nature ofan exception to the principal clause thereof and must be construed with regard to that principal clause. The principal clause of the exemption notification "exempts raw rubber, natural or synthetic rubber, latex, natural or synthetic. •.••• ". The principal clause of the said notification therefore, make a distinction between rubber, natural or synthetic, and latex, natural or synthetic. Bearing this in mind, A .. B" one has to read clause IA of the said notification. It says that the said notification shall not apply to "Styrene butadiene rubber and oil extend styrene butadiene rubber." It covers, therefore, the rubber but not the latex. Thus the contention of Revenue that under item 40.02 of the Schedule contained in Customs Tariff Act, I975, styrene butadiene rubber is shown under two sub- heads 'latex' and 'others' and, therefore, Clause IA should, also be read as C covering 'latex' is rejected. (I26-C-E) CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 451of1991. From the Judgment and Order dated 16.7.90 of the Central Excise, Customs and Gold (Control), Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi in A. No. C/3643/88-C Order No. 754 of 1990-C. D · T.L.V. Iyer, Dilip Tandon and P. Parmeswaran for the Appellant. V. Laxmi Kumaran, Ravinder Narain, Sanjiv Sen, Amit Bhagat and A.P. Arora for Mis. J.B.D. & Co., for the Respondent. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by S.P. BHARUCHA, J. The respondents imported styrene butadiene latex. They claimed for the purposes of payment of Customs duty thereon the benefit of an exemption notification (No. 82/86), as amended on 2nd April, 1986. So amended, this is how the said notification read: "in exercise of the powers, conferred by Sub-section (l), of Section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), the Central Government, being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts raw rubber, natural or synthetic rubber, latex, natural E F or synthetic (including mixtures thereof) whether or not prevulcanised; G balata, guttepercha and similar natural gums, factice derived from oils, reclaimed rubber, waster and scrap of unhardened rubber, falling within Chapter 40 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), when imported into India, from so much of that portion of
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