MRP-based excise assessment unavailable for sachet goods exempt from retail price declaration; section 4 valuation sustained.

Goods cleared in small sachets and sold by weight or volume were held to fall within the exemption in Rule 34(b) of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodity) Rules, 1977 from declaring retail sale price. As section 4A of the Central Excise Act applies only where MRP-based assessment is legally triggered, the Tribunal followed the binding Larger Bench view and held that section 4A could not be invoked for such exempt goods. The assessment under section 4 was therefore sustained and the Revenue's challenge failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the subject goods were liable to assessment under section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 on the basis of maximum retail price, or whether they were correctly assessed under section 4 of that Act.

Analysis: The Tribunal applied the binding Larger Bench ruling on cosmetic goods sold by weight or volume and noted that small quantities packed in sachets were exempt under Rule 34(b) of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodity) Rules, 1977 from the requirement of declaring retail sale price. On that basis, section 4A could not be invoked where the goods, as cleared, fell within the exemption from MRP declaration. The subject goods were treated as goods required to be sold by weight and therefore entitled to the same exemption.

Conclusion: The goods were not assessable under section 4A and the assessment under section 4 was sustained; the Revenue's challenge failed.

---