Retail sale price valuation applies to notified packaged biscuits; packs above standard quantity do not by themselves exclude section 4A.

Notified packaged biscuits remained liable to valuation under section 4A of the Central Excise Act because the retail sale price declaration framework continued to apply. Rule 5 of the Packaged Commodities Rules, read with its proviso, did not prohibit retail packing in quantities exceeding 1 kg, so oversized packs alone did not exclude the goods from section 4A. No exemption under Rule 34 was established, and valuation therefore had to be made under section 4A rather than section 4.

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Issues: Whether biscuits packed in quantities exceeding 1 kg. were outside the scope of valuation under section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 on the ground that the Packaged Commodities Rules did not apply, and whether the goods were exempt under Rule 34 of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977.

Analysis: The applicable valuation scheme under section 4A applied to notified goods required to declare retail sale price on the package. Rule 5 of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977, when read with its proviso, did not prohibit packing biscuits in quantities beyond 1 kg. for retail sale. The mere fact that some packs exceeded 1 kg. did not take the goods outside the statutory framework. The record also showed that biscuits were notified for retail sale price declaration and that no exemption under Rule 34 was established.

Conclusion: The valuation of the biscuits was correctly required to be under section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, and not under section 4. The challenge to the duty determination failed and the assessee succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Where notified packaged goods are not shown to be exempt under the exemption rule, valuation must be made under section 4A on the basis of retail sale price, and packing in quantities above the prescribed standard quantity does not by itself exclude section 4A.

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