Fourth Schedule goods with no leviable excise duty were not barred from Sabka Vishwas scheme eligibility.

Goods listed in the Fourth Schedule to the Central Excise Act, 1944 were not automatically excluded from the Sabka Vishwas Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme under Section 125(1)(h) where the Schedule itself indicated that central excise duty was not leviable. The Court read "excisable goods" in the scheme context, together with the Board's circular and the Schedule notes, to mean goods on which duty is actually leviable. Because the petitioner's product was marked as non-leviable, the exclusion did not apply merely by reason of its appearance in the Fourth Schedule. The rejection of the declarations on ineligibility was quashed and the matter was directed to be processed afresh with reasoned consideration.

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Issues: Whether goods falling under the Fourth Schedule to the Central Excise Act, 1944, on which the rate of duty is shown as not leviable, are excluded from the benefit of the Sabka Vishwas Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme under Section 125(1)(h) of the Finance Act, 2019.

Analysis: Section 125(1)(h) excludes persons seeking to make declarations with respect to excisable goods set forth in the Fourth Schedule to the Central Excise Act, 1944. The expression 'excisable goods' was construed in the context of the Scheme and the Board's circular as goods on which central excise duty is actually leviable. The goods in question, though listed in the Fourth Schedule, carried an indication that duty was not leviable, and the additional notes clarified that the dots entry denoted non-leviability of central excise duty. On that basis, the exclusion in Section 125(1)(h) did not apply to the petitioner's product merely because it appeared in the Fourth Schedule.

Conclusion: The petitioner was held eligible to seek the benefit of the Scheme, and the rejection of the applications on the ground of ineligibility was quashed with a direction for fresh processing and reasoned consideration.

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