Commissioner Of Customs (Acc & Import) v. Hewlett Packard India Sales (P) Ltd. .

Dr. Satish Chandra, President:— The department has filed this appeal against order-in-appeal No. 21.Mumbai-III/09 dated 12.02.2009 that upheld the claim of the assessee-respondent Hewlett Packard India Sales Pvt. Ltd, seeking the benefit of exemption under Notification 6/2006 dated 01.03.2006 which is available for hard disk drives but denied by original authority. Revenue's contention is that the first appellate authority has extended the benefit by relying upon the decision of the Tribunal in the case of CC v. Tata Consultancy - 2008 (221) ELT 217 (Tri.) which has been affirmed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court which according to learned A.R was on a different set of facts and the dispute was one of clarification following which exemption was extended. He also contends that the classification as claimed by the respondent and not entitle them for exemption which specifically for hard disk drives.

2. Shri T. Vishwanathan, learned Advocate appearing for the respondent-assessee submits that the issue has already been settled by the decision of the Tribunal in the case of Tata Consultancy (supra) as affirmed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

3. On a perusal of the said decision, we find that the Tribunal has observed that—

“4. On a careful consideration of the Notification in question, it is clear from Column 2 that the goods falling under 847170 are entitled for the benefit. There is no bifurcation made to the goods falling under Sub Headings of 84717020 or 84717090. There is no dispute that the item is a Hard Disk Drive, therefore, mere fact that the Hard Disk Drive have been imported in array will not disentitle them from classification under Heading 847170 irrespective of the sub heading. Therefore, the order passed by the Commissioner (A) is legal and proper. There is no merit in this appeal and the same is rejected”.

4. The imported item namely “AH051C HP EVA Starter Assy 146 GB 10 K HDD” and “AG718B HP EVA Starter Assy 300 GB 10 K HDD” and is therefore eligible for benefit of exemption.

5. Exemption Notification follows classification of the product which was also the dispute in the case of Tata Consultancy (supra). Consequently, we find no merit in the appeal filed by the department hence dismissed.

6. In the result, Revenue's appeal is dismissed.