Central excise duty applies to patent or proprietary medicaments absent an operative exemption notification or Section 11C relief.

Excisable goods remain chargeable to central excise duty under the charging provision unless covered by an operative exemption notification under Section 5A. For the relevant period, the patent or proprietary medicaments were not shown to be covered by any exemption notification in force, and no notification under Section 11C was established. On that basis, the medicaments were liable to central excise duty for the period in question, and the appeal failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the patent or proprietary medicaments cleared during the relevant period were chargeable to central excise duty in the absence of an operative exemption notification or notification under Section 11C of the Central Excise Act.

Analysis: Central excise duty is leviable on excisable goods under Section 3 of the Central Excise Act unless the goods are exempted by a notification issued under Section 5A. The relevant period was not covered by any exemption notification in force, and no notification under Section 11C of the Central Excise Act was shown to have been issued.

Conclusion: The medicaments were liable to central excise duty for the relevant period, and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of an operative exemption notification, excisable goods remain chargeable to duty under the charging provision of the Central Excise Act.

---