Transaction value governs excise valuation for steel remnants where no non-commercial relationship or additional consideration is shown.

Sale price of steel sheet cuttings and remnants sold by the manufacturer was the correct assessable value for excise duty under Section 4 of the Central Excise Act. In the absence of any allegation in the show cause notice, or finding in the impugned order, that the buyer relationship was non-commercial or that price was not the sole consideration, the statutory scheme required adoption of the transaction value. The duty demands based on a different valuation method were therefore unsustainable, and consequential relief followed.

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Issues: Whether the sale price of steel sheet cuttings and remnants sold by the manufacturer constituted the assessable value for excise duty under Section 4 of the Central Excise Act.

Analysis: The dispute concerned valuation of remnants arising in the manufacture of automobile body panels. The record contained no allegation in the show cause notice or finding in the impugned order that the relationship with the buyers was non-commercial or that the price was not the sole consideration. In the absence of such a basis, the statutory scheme required adoption of the sale price as the assessable value.

Conclusion: The transaction value constituted the assessable value, and the duty demands were unsustainable. The appeals succeeded and consequential relief followed.

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