Marketability as a condition for excise duty fails where captive use and short shelf-life defeat proof of saleability.

Marketability is a condition precedent for levy of central excise duty, and the burden to prove marketability lies on the Revenue. The product was used captively and had a shelf-life of not more than 48 hours, while no evidence was produced to show that it was marketable as compounded rubber. On that basis, the product was treated as not liable to duty and the assessee's appeal was allowed with consequential relief.

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Issues: Whether the product manufactured by the assessee was marketable and therefore excisable to central excise duty.

Analysis: The product was stated to be used captively and to have a shelf-life of not more than 48 hours. The Revenue did not produce evidence to establish that the product was marketable as compounded rubber, and the adjudicating authority had not addressed this aspect with reference to the evidence. Marketability is a condition precedent for levy of duty on excisable goods, and the burden to prove marketability lies on the Revenue.

Conclusion: The product was held not liable to duty, and the assessee's appeal was allowed with consequential relief.

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