Marketability is essential for excise duty: gas must be capable of sale on all relevant evidence before taxation applies.

Acetylene gas emerging during manufacture was held to be excisable only if it satisfied the tariff description and was marketable or capable of being marketed. The SC noted that marketability must be assessed on all relevant evidence, including the assessee's material showing impurities, high explosiveness, danger, and the need for further treatment before sale. Because the Tribunal had relied only on departmental material and had not weighed the full evidentiary record, its finding on marketability could not stand. The matter was remitted for fresh determination of whether the gas was marketable and therefore excisable.

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Issues: Whether acetylene gas emerging in the course of manufacture was marketable and therefore excisable under Tariff Item No. 14H(vi) of the Central Excise Tariff.

Analysis: For goods to be exigible to excise duty, they must not only fall within the tariff description but also be marketable or capable of being marketed. The Tribunal had found the gas to be marketable, but it had relied only on the Department's material and had not considered the assessee's evidence that the gas contained impurities, was highly explosive and dangerous, and required further treatment before it could be sold in the market. A finding on marketability had therefore to be reached on the basis of all relevant material.

Conclusion: The Tribunal's finding on marketability could not be sustained and the matter was remitted for a fresh determination of whether the gas was marketable and consequently excisable.

Ratio Decidendi: Goods are not excisable merely because they are covered by a tariff item; they must also be marketable or capable of being marketed, and any finding on that question must consider all relevant evidence.

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