Direct sale of packaged cement to consumers without retail price marking was not retail sale for duty concession purposes.

Direct sale of packaged cement to individual consumers, without an intermediary and without declaration of retail sale price, was treated as outside the statutory concept of retail sale. On that basis, the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977 were not attracted through Rule 3, and the concessional duty under Notification No. 4/2006-CE could not be denied on the footing that the clearances were retail sales. The impugned demand was therefore unsustainable, and relief was granted to the assessee.

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Issues: Whether cement cleared directly to individual consumers without declaration of retail sale price qualified for concessional duty under Notification No. 4/2006-CE and whether such clearances were governed by the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977.

Analysis: The relevant test was whether the goods were intended for retail sale and whether the sale was through a retail sale agency or other instrumentality for consumption by an individual. Direct sales to consumers without an intermediary, and without marking of retail sale price on the bags, did not satisfy the statutory definition of retail sale. In such circumstances, the packaged commodities rules were not attracted through Rule 3, and the concession could not be denied on the footing that the clearances were retail sales.

Conclusion: The impugned order was not sustainable and the appellants were entitled to relief.

Final Conclusion: The appeals succeeded and the demand confirmed against direct sales to individual consumers was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: A direct sale of packaged goods to consumers, without routing through a retail sale agency or other intermediary and without retail price declaration, is not a retail sale for the purpose of applying the packaged commodities rules through Rule 3.

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