Refilling cylinders with carbon dioxide is not manufacture, so cylinder value is excluded from clearance value for exemption purposes.

Refilling an empty cylinder with carbon dioxide does not amount to manufacture or create a new product, because the cylinder remains only a container and the assessee manufactures neither the cylinders nor the gas. On that reasoning, the value of the cylinders used in fire extinguishers was not required to be included in clearance value for exemption under Notification No. 1/93, and the Tribunal followed its earlier decision on the same issue.

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Issues: Whether, for computation of clearance value under Notification No. 1/93, the value of cylinders forming part of fire extinguishers and refilled with carbon dioxide was required to be included.

Analysis: Refilling an empty cylinder with carbon dioxide does not bring into existence a new product and, by itself, does not amount to manufacture. The cylinder functions only as a container for carbon dioxide, and the assessee manufactured neither the cylinders nor the carbon dioxide. The issue was also covered by the Tribunal's earlier decision relied upon in the order.

Conclusion: The value of the cylinders was not includible in the clearance value for the purpose of Notification No. 1/93, and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Mere refilling of an empty cylinder with carbon dioxide does not constitute manufacture, and the value of such cylinders is not to be included in clearance value for exemption purposes.

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