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Informist, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Tuesday held that aluminium shelves imported for growing mushrooms cannot be considered "agricultural machinery" and the importer is liable to pay basic customs duty, countervailing duty, and customs cess on the product. Goods classified as parts of agricultural machinery attract zero customs duty.

 

The mushroom-growing apparatus cannot be classified as "agricultural machinery" and seems to be a combination of separate machines, the court said. Each machine, such as the head-filling machine, the automatic watering system, and the compost-spreading equipment, used in the mushroom-growing apparatus seems to perform its own independent task, the court said. The only common element is that they are all part of the broader mushroom cultivation process, which is different from fulfilling a specific, unified function, it added.

 

All the individual machines are already complete and fully operational on their own, the court said, adding that their mechanical and electrical functions do not rely on the aluminium shelves. The shelves, it said, do not contribute to the operation of the machines. They merely serve as a surface for the devices to perform their functions. A surface supports an object but does not become part of it, the court said. "Looked at from any angle, we are of the firm view that the subject goods cannot be classified under Chapter Heading 8436. Consequently, the subject goods are liable to be classified under CTI (Customs Tariff Item) 76109010 as 'Aluminium Structures'," it said.

 

With this, the court set aside a Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal's 2024 order which held that the aluminium shelves imported by Welkin Foods should be classified under customs tariff item relating to "parts" of agricultural machinery, as opposed to the item regarding aluminium structures. The customs tariff item relating to "parts" of agricultural machinery carries nil duty, whereas customs tariff item regarding aluminium structures attracts a basic customs duty of 10%, a countervailing duty of 12.5%, a customs cess of 3%, and an additional customs duty of 4%.

 

The customs department had argued that aluminium shelves, at the time of import, are simply structures made of aluminium and cannot be classified as "agricultural machines" because they are neither attached to any machinery nor can they be used independently for mushroom cultivation. That the shelves are ultimately used to cultivate mushrooms after being attached to other machines cannot influence their classification for the purposes of customs duty, it had said.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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