Actual removal governs excise duty where a specific factory-removal rule prevails over the residuary provision.

Sugar retained in factory stock until after de-control was not entitled to concessional levy treatment merely because it had been earlier cleared on paper before allottee liftment, so duty had to be determined by the rate and tariff valuation prevailing on the date of actual removal. The specific excise rule governing removal from factory applied directly to the disputed quantity, and the residuary rule could not displace that express provision. The differential duty demand therefore required reassessment on the basis of the duty and valuation in force at the time of actual removal, and the residuary-rule argument was rejected.

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Issues: Whether sugar cleared on concessional levy rate but actually removed from the factory after de-control was liable to differential duty on the rate and value prevailing on the date of actual removal, and whether the residuary rule could be invoked instead of the specific rule governing removal from factory.

Analysis: The sugar was not entitled to the concessional levy rate merely because it had been cleared by the appellants on their own before the allottees lifted the stock, since it was not sold to the authorised allottees on the required pre-payment basis and therefore could not retain the character of levy sugar for that purpose. However, the disputed quantity remained within the factory and was actually removed only after the relevant de-control date. Rule 9A(1)(ii) specifically required duty and tariff valuation to be determined on the date of actual removal from the factory. Rule 9A(5) was only residuary and could not override the specific provision where the case was directly covered by Rule 9A(1)(ii).

Conclusion: The demand for differential duty had to be re-assessed with reference to the rate of duty and valuation in force on the date of actual removal from the factory. The contention that the residuary rule governed the case was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a specific excise rule fixes duty by reference to the date of actual removal from factory, that rule prevails over a residuary provision, and duty must be re-determined accordingly.

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