The Commissioner of Central Excise, Goa and Anr. v. M/S. Funskool (India) Ltd. and Anr.

I S.H. KAPADIA, J. 1. This batch of civil appeals is filed by

the Department against the decision of CESTAT dated 23.1.04 in Final Order Nos. 103 to 105 of 2004. These are virtually cross appeals to civil appeals filed by the assessee bearing Civil Appeal Nos.4309-4311 of 2008 - Mis. Pleasantime Products, & Anr. vs. Commissioner of Central Excise, Mumbai-I, in which we have delivered the judgment today. The question in both sets of civil appeals, however, is common as far as the game "Scrabble/Upwards" is concerned.

J..._ 2. In thls batch of civil appeals filed by the Department we are concerned with classification of 12 items falling within the declaration filed by Mis. Funskoo/ (India) Ltd.

"' 3. We make it clear 'that the following three items are classifiable under Heading 95.04ofthe Central Excise and Tariff Act, 1985 ("CET A"; for short). They are as follows:

·\_ (i) Snake and Ladder.

. (ii) Monopoly .

(iii) Scrabble/Upwards (in terms of our judgment

delivered today in M/s. Pleasantime Products (supra) 4. In our judgment in Mis. Pleasantime Products (supra), we .have broadly indicated the tests to distinguish toys, puzzles and games in the context of Chapter 95 ofthe CET A. The tests applied by the Department, namely, age of the player, is not correct as indicated in our judgment in M/s. Pleasantime Products (supra). Therefore, we remit this case to the Tribur.a! for de novo consideration in accordance with law. It is made clear that the Tribunal will decide the controversy only with regard to nine out of 12 ·items. We once again declare that "Scrabble/ Upwards" is a game falling under Heading 95.04 of CET A.

¶5Accordingly, civil appeals filed by the Department are allowed with no order as to costs.

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. 3460-3462 of 2004.

From the Judgment & Order dated 23.01.2004 in order Nos. 103-105 of 2004 of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal1 South Zonal Bench, Chennai.

Gopal Subramaniam, SG, T.V. Ratnam, B. Krishna Prasad for the Appellants.

M. Chandrasekharan, K.R. Nambiar, S. Ignatius for the l Respondents.