Controlled maximum price is only a ceiling; excise assessable value remains the actual sale price when goods sell below it.

A maximum price fixed under the Drug Price (Control) Order, 1987 operated only as a ceiling, so a lawful sale below that ceiling did not trigger a deeming fiction to substitute the controlled price as assessable value under section 4(1)(a) of the Central Excise Act, 1944. The deeming principle applicable where law itself fixes the sale price and deviation is unlawful could not be extended to a mere maximum-price regime. Assessable value therefore remained the actual sale price, and the Department's attempt to adopt the enhanced controlled price failed.

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Issues: Whether, where a bulk drug was sold below the maximum price fixed under the Drug Price (Control) Order, 1987, the assessable value for excise duty could be taken as the enhanced maximum price from the date of its notification under Section 4(1)(a) of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Analysis: The fixed maximum price under the control order was only a ceiling price. A sale below that ceiling was lawful and did not attract the fiction that the controlled price automatically became the assessable value. The deeming principle applicable where the sale price itself is fixed by law and any deviation is unlawful could not be extended to a mere maximum price regime. The assessable value therefore remained the actual price at which the assessee sold the goods.

Conclusion: The maximum controlled price could not be treated as the deemed assessable value for periods when the goods were sold below that ceiling; the appeal by the Department failed.

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