Excise proceedings cannot expand beyond the show cause notice; fresh allegations must be raised through the proper statutory demand route.

In excise proceedings, an appellate challenge to approval of price lists cannot rest on a ground not stated in the show cause notice. Where the notice alleged only relationship between buyer and manufacturer and did not allege additional consideration such as service charges, marketing expenses, advertisement costs, technical know-how cost or supervision cost, the Department could not enlarge the dispute in appeal. If a different allegation is to be pursued, it must be raised through the proper statutory demand mechanism within limitation. On that basis, the challenge to the price list approval failed.

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Issues: Whether, in an appeal against approval of price lists, the Department could urge a ground of additional consideration flowing from the buyer to the manufacturer when that ground was not stated in the show cause notice.

Analysis: The only ground stated in the show cause notice was that the buyer and the manufacturer were related persons and that assessable value should therefore be based on the buyer's wholesale price. The notice did not allege that any additional consideration, such as after-sales service charges, marketing expenses, advertisement expenses, technical know-how cost, or supervision cost, had flowed from the buyer to the manufacturer. A party cannot in appellate proceedings enlarge the controversy beyond the foundation laid in the notice, and if a different case is to be made out, action may lie under the appropriate statutory provision within limitation.

Conclusion: The Department could not raise the new ground in the appeal, and the challenge to the price list approval failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was dismissed because the Department's appellate challenge could not travel beyond the allegations contained in the show cause notice.

Ratio Decidendi: In excise proceedings, an appellate challenge cannot be based on a ground not contained in the show cause notice; any fresh allegation must be pursued through the statutory demand mechanism, if permissible in law.

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