LARSEN & TOUBRO LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. By consent, heard forthwith.

(2.) The issue which arises is as to the valuation of the goods for the purpose of Excise duty and whether Excise duty was chargeable under Section 4 or Section 4A of the Central Excise Act 1944 (CEA).

(3.) Officers from the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence, Mumbai Zonal Unit, seized goods (switch gear) from M/s. Total Logistics India Private Limited, a stockist of the petitioners. These goods have been kept in safe custody of M/s. Total Logistics India Private Limited under a Supratnama (an undertaking of safe custody of seized goods). The petitioners herein aggrieved by the seizure, preferred a petition before this Court being Writ Petition No. 394 of 2007. Minutes of order came to be tendered and the petition came to be disposed off by order dated 10-3-2007. In terms of the Minutes of order, the petitioners were to make an application to respondent No. 6 who considering the provisions of the Standards of Weights & Measures Act, hereto referred to as the "Act" and the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977, hereto referred to as the "Rules" framed thereunder, was to decide whether the provisions of the said Act and rules are applicable to the seized goods. At this stage itself, we may refer to the Circular No. 625/16/2002-CX., dated 28th February, 2002 issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs, New Delhi. The Circular came to be issued as doubt has been raised regarding the mode of valuation adopted in respect of goods notified under Section 4A of the CEA which were partly sold at the retail price printed on the packages and partly sold without printing the retail price on the packages. The Circular sets out that on examination of Section 4A of CEA, the section would be applicable in respect of only those cases where the manufacturer is legally obliged to print the MRP on the packages of the goods under the provisions of the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 or the Rules made thereunder or any other law for the time being in force. The Circular noted that the basic issue is to determine the circumstances in which Section 4A can be applied. It was therefore, clarified that where there are doubts as to whether the assessee is exempted from declaring the retail price or not, clarification may be obtained from the concerned department of the State Government.