The Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Ahmedabad Bench, has ruled in favour of the state-owned gas major, GAIL in a long-standing excise classification dispute concerning the product “Pentene mixture.”
The dispute centered around the correct classification of the Pentene mixture under the Central Excise Tariff. GAIL had argued that the product falls under tariff heading (TH) 27111900, whereas the Revenue department insisted it should be classified under TH 27101113.
A bench of Judicial Member Mr. Somesh Arora and Technical Member Mr. Satendra Vikram Singh—observed that the issue had already been conclusively settled in earlier proceedings involving the same parties.
Advocate Anand Nainawati, appearing for GAIL, pointed out that the classification issue had already been adjudicated in GAIL’s favour for the periods 2001 to December 2006 and October 2007 to July 2009. That ruling, reported in 2019 (24) GSTL 636 (Tri.-Ahm.), had attained finality after the Supreme Court upheld the Tribunal’s view by dismissing the Revenue’s appeals in Civil Appeal Nos. 7844–7848/2019.
The department acknowledged that the Apex Court had, in a clarificatory order on Miscellaneous Application Nos. 1481–1485/2021, confirmed the Tribunal’s decision on merits. The SC had ruled, “The judgment under appeals does not call for any interference… The instant appeals are, therefore, dismissed.”
The Tribunal concluded that the matter was “no more res integra” and allowed GAIL’s appeal with consequential relief.
Case Details
Case Title: GAIL India Ltd vs Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, Vadodara-II
Case No.: Excise Appeal No. 10641 of 2023
Date: July 9, 2025
Counsel for Appellant: Shri Anand Nainawati, Advocate
Counsel for Respondent: Shri Mihri G Rayka, Additional Commissioner (AR)
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