Commissioner of Central Excise, Jaipur -II vs M/s Miraj Products Pvt. Ltd.

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

8 July 2024

Case No.

Civil Appeal Nos. 143-147 of 2010

Result

Dismissed

Bench

Abhay S. Oka, Pankaj Mithal

Citation

[2024] 7 S.C.R. 117 : 2024 INSC 470

Acts & Sections

Central Excise Act, 1944 Standards of Weight & Measures (Packaged…

Issue for consideration

Whether the commodity sold by the respondent-assessee will attract Section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Headnote

Central Excise Act, 1944 – s.4A – Valuation of excisable goods with reference to retail sale price – When not applicable – Standards of Weight & Measures (Packaged Commodity) Rules, 1977 – rr.2 (q), (g), (x)(iii), 34 – HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene Bag) bags containing 100 poly packs containing

33 plus one smaller pack of chewing tobacco sold by the respondent, if was meant for retail sale and therefore be treated as a group package or it was a wholesale package not meant for retail sale:

Held: In view of sub-section (1) of s.4A of the Excise Act, the question is whether there was any requirement in the 1977 Rules to declare the retail sale price of the commodity on the package – What is relevant is whether the package is of such nature that attracts any of the provisions of the 1977 Rules, which mandatorily require the mention of retail price on the package – In case of a package that does not attract provisions of the 1977 Rules regarding mentioning the retail price, even if the retail price is mentioned on the package, that itself will not attract sub-section

(1) of s.4A – However, on facts, there is no requirement to deal with the issue of whether a poly pack containing 33 plus one small package was intended for retail sale as the specific case made out by the respondent in reply to the show cause notices that it was selling HDPE bags containing 100 poly packs containing 33 plus one smaller pack was not rejected by the Commissioner – Therefore, the respondent was selling HDPE bags containing 100 poly packs each to the distributors and dealers – The 1977 Rules do not require the display of price on such HDPE bags – Even assuming that 100 poly packs were retail packages, HDPE bags would be covered by the definition of ‘wholesale package’ as defined in clause (iii) of r.2(x) of the 1977 Rules – Thus, the HDPE bags are not group packages within the meaning of r.2(g) – s.4A(1) of the Excise Act was not applicable to the goods subject matter of the show cause notices – Impugned judgment of the Tribunal not interfered with. [Paras 15-18]

Judgment Abhay S. Oka, J. FACTUAL DETAILS 1. These appeals take exception to the judgment and order dated 7th November 2008 passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (for short, ‘the Tribunal’). The issue involved, in short, is whether the goods sold by the respondent-assessee are covered by Section 4 or Section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (for short, ‘The Excise Act’). The proceedings commenced based on the show cause notices issued to the respondent-assessee. The first show cause notice issued on 22nd April 2004, pertains to a brief period in April 2003. The

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