Retail sale price valuation for combi packs governs excise duty; free items inside the package cannot be separately added.

Packaged combi goods covered by Section 4A were required to be valued on the declared retail sale price of the package, and that special valuation rule prevailed over general excise valuation under Section 4. A combination package was treated as a single package containing dissimilar commodities, so the declared MRP on the combi pack was the relevant assessable value. No separate addition could be made for an item supplied free inside the package, making the Revenue's enhanced valuation unsustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether, for a combi pack containing dissimilar commodities, the excisable value could be enhanced by adding the value of an item supplied free, or whether valuation had to be made only on the retail sale price declared on the package under Section 4A.

Analysis: The goods were held to fall within Section 4A(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and, where notified, Section 4A(2) required valuation on the basis of the retail sale price declared on the package. That provision was treated as overriding the general valuation rule in Section 4 for packaged commodities. Rule 2(c) of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Package Commodities) Rules, 1977 recognised a combination package as one containing two or more individual packages or pieces of dissimilar commodities. On that basis, the declared MRP on the combi pack was held to be the only relevant value for excisability, and no separate addition could be made merely because one item in the package was supplied free.

Conclusion: The valuation adopted by the Revenue was unsustainable, and the appeal was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where packaged goods are covered by Section 4A and notified for retail price-based valuation, excise duty is to be computed on the declared retail sale price of the package, including a combination package, without separately adding the value of any free item contained in it.

---