Excise valuation under interim court orders: permitted sale price treated as price fixed under law for duty purposes.

For excise valuation under Section 4 of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, a higher sugar price permitted by interim court orders was treated as a price fixed under law within the proviso to Section 4. The manufacturer had cleared goods at that higher price, while duty was paid only on the notified Government price. Because the interim orders legally allowed sale at the higher price, the differential duty demand on the lower valuation basis was unsustainable. The Board circular was considered inapplicable because it related to a different context.

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Issues: Whether, for valuation under Section 4 of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, the higher sugar price permitted by interim court orders could be treated as a price fixed under law so as to exclude the differential duty demand.

Analysis: Section 4 valued excisable goods by reference to the normal price, and its proviso covered cases where goods were sold at a price fixed under any law for the time being in force. The dispute arose because the manufacturer had cleared sugar at a higher price permitted by interim orders, while duty was paid only on the notified Government price. The interim orders, though provisional, operated to permit sale at the higher price and thus constituted a price fixed under law within the meaning of the proviso. The reliance on the Board circular was found misplaced because the circular concerned a different context.

Conclusion: The higher price allowed by the interim orders was a price fixed under law for purposes of Section 4, and the differential duty demand was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The valuation adopted by the Tribunal was incorrect, and the Revenue was entitled to recover duty on the higher price basis.

Ratio Decidendi: For excise valuation, a price permitted by a judicial interim order can qualify as a price fixed under law within the proviso to Section 4, and duty is chargeable on that basis.

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