Valuation disputes under excise law stay outside Section 35G reference jurisdiction even when the appeal ends on limitation.

A Tribunal order in an appeal involving valuation for assessment remains outside reference jurisdiction under Section 35G of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, even if the appeal is disposed of on limitation. The valuation character of the dispute is not lost where the appeal concerned captively consumed goods and the valuation issue was raised before the Tribunal, because a question of law not separately discussed is still treated as dealt with in the order. No reference to the High Court was therefore maintainable.

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Issues: Whether a reference under Section 35G of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 lay where the underlying appeal involved valuation for assessment, though the Tribunal had disposed of the appeal on limitation.

Analysis: Section 35G excludes orders relating to the determination of any question having a relation to the rate of duty or the value of goods for assessment. The appeal before the Tribunal involved valuation of captively consumed metal containers under the valuation rules, and that character was not lost merely because the appeal was disposed of on the preliminary ground of limitation. A question of law raised before the Tribunal but not separately dealt with is nevertheless treated as having been dealt with, and the order remains one relating to the valuation issue. The presence of a preliminary ruling does not remove the order from the statutory exclusion.

Conclusion: No reference to the High Court was maintainable, as the order related to the value of the goods for the purposes of assessment.

Ratio Decidendi: An order passed by the Tribunal in an appeal involving valuation for assessment remains outside reference jurisdiction under Section 35G even if the appeal is disposed of on a preliminary ground, because the valuation issue is deemed to have been dealt with in that order.

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