Composite wholesale pack valuation cannot be split by components when goods are cleared as one unit.

A composite wholesale pack of bubble gums and toffees cleared together had to be valued in the form in which it was sold, because the pack was not a retail sale pack and its contents could not be split for separate application of Section 4A and Section 4. The tribunal applied the settled principle that valuation of a composite clearance must follow the nature of the goods as cleared, not an artificial segregation of components. As the proposed demand did not value the entire pack under the correct provision, the revenue's approach was held unsustainable and the appeal failed.

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Issues: Whether the goods cleared in a wholesale pack containing bubble gums and additional toffees could be split for valuation so as to apply Section 4A to one component and Section 4 to the other, and whether the revenue could demand duty on the basis proposed in the show cause notice.

Analysis: The pack was accepted as not being a retail sale pack. Once the goods were cleared in the composite form of a wholesale pack, the valuation had to be made on the pack as cleared and not by disintegrating its contents and applying different valuation provisions to different components. The proposed demand did not seek valuation of the entire pack under the appropriate provision for the form in which it was cleared. The tribunal followed the settled principle that where a composite pack is cleared as such, its valuation cannot be artificially split for separate treatment of its contents.

Conclusion: The revenue's valuation approach was not sustainable, and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A composite wholesale pack must be valued in the form in which it is cleared, and its contents cannot be artificially segregated for separate application of different valuation provisions.

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