Marketability is essential for excise duty; mere usability or later references do not prove duty liability.

Refinery gas and long residue arising in the refining process were held not to be liable to central excise duty because marketability was not proved. For duty under Section 3 of the Central Excise Act, 1944, the goods must be excisable, manufactured and marketable, and the burden to establish marketability lies on the Revenue. The show cause notices did not substantiate marketability, and later website material was insufficient because it did not show that the goods were marketable at the relevant time. Mere usability or theoretical capability of use was not treated as equivalent to marketability; contemporaneous evidence did not show that the goods were known in the market as commodities capable of sale.

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Issues: Whether the impugned goods, namely refinery gas and long residue arising in the refining process, were marketable and therefore liable to central excise duty.

Analysis: For goods to attract duty under Section 3 of the Central Excise Act, 1944, they must be excisable, manufactured and marketable. The impugned goods were not in dispute as to classification or manufacture; the decisive question was marketability. The burden to establish marketability lay on the Revenue. The show cause notices did not assert or substantiate marketability, and the later website material relied upon by the Revenue was held insufficient because it did not prove that the goods were marketable at the relevant time. Mere usability or theoretical capability of use was held not to be the same as marketability. The contemporaneous material did not show that the goods were known to the market as commodities capable of being bought and sold.

Conclusion: The impugned goods were not proved to be marketable, and therefore no excise duty was leviable on them; the Revenue's challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: To levy excise duty, the Revenue must prove that the goods are marketable at the relevant time, and mere possible use or later technological references do not establish marketability.

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