Wholesale tobacco packs without retail MRP markings are assessable under Section 4, not MRP-based valuation under Section 4A.

Chewing tobacco pouches packed in larger bundles of 20/27 units were held not to fall under MRP-based valuation because the outer packs were wholesale packages intended for intermediaries, not direct retail sale. In the absence of reliable material showing that the larger packs bore MRP or were meant for retail distribution, the valuation scheme under Section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, did not apply merely because the inner pouches carried markings. On the admitted facts, the goods were assessable under Section 4, and a demand based on Section 4A could not be sustained.

---

---

Issues: Whether the chewing tobacco pouches cleared in smaller retail units but packed in larger packs of 20/27 pieces were liable to assessment under Section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, or under Section 4 of that Act.

Analysis: The larger packs were found to be wholesale packages meant for supply to intermediaries and not for direct retail sale to consumers. There was no reliable material to show that the wholesale packs bore MRP or were intended for retail sale. In the absence of such material, the exemption and valuation scheme applicable to retail packages could not be displaced merely because the individual pouches inside the larger packs carried markings. On the admitted facts, the outer packs did not satisfy the conditions necessary for MRP-based valuation under Section 4A.

Conclusion: The goods were liable to duty valuation under Section 4 and not Section 4A, and the demand based on Section 4A could not stand.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the larger container is a wholesale package without evidence of MRP-based retail sale, valuation under Section 4A is inapplicable and duty must be assessed under Section 4.

---