Section 4A valuation applies to notified biscuits in larger packs where no Packaged Commodities exemption is shown.

Biscuits notified for retail sale price-based assessment remained assessable under Section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 where no exemption under Rule 34 of the Packaged Commodities Rules was shown. Package size exceeding 1 kg did not, by itself, remove the goods from the statutory regime or compel valuation under Section 4. The applicable test was whether retail sale price declaration was required and whether an exemption applied; absent such exemption, Section 4A governed valuation. Demand and penalty based on assessment under Section 4 were therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether biscuits cleared in tins of more than 1 kg were liable to valuation under Section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, or under Section 4; whether the goods were outside the Packaged Commodities Rules merely because they exceeded 1 kg; and whether the demand and penalty sustained on the contrary view could stand.

Analysis: The relevant valuation scheme depended on whether the commodity was one for which retail sale price declaration was required and whether it was exempted under Rule 34 of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977. Rule 5, read with the Third Schedule and its proviso, did not prohibit biscuits from being packed beyond the maximum standard quantity, and the mere fact that the packages exceeded 1 kg did not take them outside the statutory regime. The goods were notified for assessment on the basis of retail sale price, and the record did not show any exemption under Rule 34. On that footing, the conditions for applying Section 4A were satisfied, and valuation could not be shifted to Section 4 only because the goods were sold in bulk or in larger packages.

Conclusion: The goods were correctly assessable under Section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, and the contrary demand and penalty were unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the appeal succeeded with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Where notified goods are liable to retail sale price-based assessment and are not exempt under Rule 34, their valuation must be under Section 4A, and larger-than-standard package size by itself does not exclude Section 4A.

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