TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1975 (7) TMI 74
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...., contended that these decisions did not conclude the questions which arise in the petition before us. He added that there were certain contentions which did not arise in previous cases. 5. It will, therefore, be necessary to examine the ratio of these judgments in relation to the facts of this case. 6. Before we discuss the contentions raised before us in this petition, it is necessary to set out the relevant facts, which fortunately are not many and largely undisputed. 7. The petitioners, Messrs Ogale Glass Works Ltd. manufacture at Ogalewadi as well as at Pimpri among other things glass and glassware. In particular, they manufacture tumblers, jars and pressed-ware bottles of different kinds as well as glass bricks and tiles. 8. These products are charged to excise duty ad valorem under the Act and the relevant Item in the First Schedule is Item 21A, which reads as follows :- *     *      *        *      * 9. The petitioners say that as from 1962 they have been paying excise duty on glass and glassware under the sa....
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....to be due to the Excise authorities and payable by the petitioners. 14. It is appropriate at this stage to notice that the procedure adopted in this behalf under the relevant Excise Rules is that the petitioners filed price lists of the manufactured goods assessable to Excise duty ad valorem for the purpose of determining the value in accordance with Section 4 of the Act. These price lists are then approved by the Excise authorities from time to time and the excisable goods are then permitted to be removed from the factory where they are manufactured. 15. In order to facilitate such removal, a procedure is followed by which a current account is maintained and relevant entries made therein from time to time as the goods are removed from the factory and cash deposits are made into the current account by the petitioners. This facility is made available by the Excise authorities in order to ensure that excisable goods are removed from the factory without any delay. 16. It was in these circumstances that the Excise authorities collected from the petitioners moneys said to represent excise duties on the excisable goods produced by the petitioners at their factorie....
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....ppeal No. 257 of 1972 decided on the 16th of April 1974 - 1979 (4) E.L.T. (J 158). In that judgment this Court was considering the contention of the Excise authorities that the article manufactured by the respondents therein, viz. vegetable oil, was such that it could not be presented for sale in the market without a container. It was also contended in that case that the vegetable oil, as excisable goods, became fully manufactured and assessable only after the same was packed in tins and that process of packing in tins was ancillary to the manufacture of the vegetable oil, without which, the vegetable oils could not be sold in the market. Both these contentions were rejected by this Court. *       *       *      *       * 50. Now, in the Petition before us the relevant Item of the First Schedule is Item 23A, which refers to glass and glassware and mentions no packing at all. It is difficult to appreciate how it can possibly be contended that the manufacture of glass and glassware is not completed before the necessity for packing it can arise, ....
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....ctured by the petitioners cannot be taken away by a prospective buyer in his own truck or transport vehicle, which may be layered with materials, such as, hay or grass to protect it from breakage during transport. 57. In my view, the method or manner of marketing or delivery or transporting excisable goods which have been fully manufactured can never by itself determine the assessable value of such excisable goods under Section 4 of the Act. Once it can be said that the manufacture of the excisable goods is complete, before they are packed, then that would he the end of the matter. 58. It may perhaps be possible to argue that in the case of a particular kind of excisable goods and relevant attendant circumstances the packing, or the necessity of a special container in relation to that product, is such that the excisable goods do not become excisable goods as such without such packing or placing them in a special container. That would depend on the nature of the goods and construction of the relevant entry in the First Schedule. 59. But in the case of glass and glassware and on a reading of Item 23A of the First Schedule and other relevant provisions of the A....