Transporter records alone cannot justify duty on the full quantity without reliable linkage to the assessee's own manufacture.

Duty could not be demanded on the entire quantity reflected in the transporter's unloading and gate registers because those records also covered other manufacturers' gutka brands, and no independent verification linked the full quantity to the assessee's own production or clearances. The assessee's manufacturing capacity was not correlated with the recorded quantity, and the adjudicating authority had already confined duty to the bags identifiable as the assessee's branded goods, marked in code as "Rajshree" and "Safal". The restriction of duty to 2404 bags was upheld, and the balance demand was dropped because the Revenue failed to establish reliable linkage to the assessee.

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Issues: Whether duty could be demanded on the entire quantity reflected in the transporter's unloading and gate registers, or only on the quantity of pouches identifiable as the assessee's own branded goods.

Analysis: The demand was founded primarily on entries in the unloading registers and gate registers seized from the transporter's premises. Those records also reflected movement of other gutka brands belonging to different manufacturers. The assessee's manufacturing setup and capacity were not examined to correlate the full recorded quantity with its production, and no independent verification of booking vouchers or manufacturer-wise linkage was undertaken for the entire 63,346 bags. The adjudicating authority had already confined duty to the bags identifiable as the assessee's branded goods, namely those bearing the marks "Rajshree" and "Safal" in code, and the remaining bags were not shown to belong to the assessee.

Conclusion: The duty demand could not be extended beyond the bags identifiable as the assessee's own branded goods, and the restriction of duty to 2404 bags was upheld.

Final Conclusion: The Revenue failed to establish that the entire quantity recorded in the transporter's registers belonged to the assessee, so the order restricting duty and dropping the balance demand was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A duty demand based on transporter records cannot be extended to the entire recorded quantity unless there is reliable linkage to the assessee's own manufacture or clearance.

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