TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1988 (7) TMI 59
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....tter stating that the price should include all the cost of packing and packing charges in terms of Section 4(4)(d)(i) of the Act. 2. The appellant, a private limited company, manufactured various types of glass bottles which were assessed to duty under Item No. 23A of the Central Excise Tariff. According to the appellant, it sold to the customers on wholesale basis the glass bottles manufactured by it, packed in gunny bags and cartons which it purchases from the market. According to the appellant further, it has been paying duty on the value of the glass bottles including the cost of gunny bags or the cartons in which these are packed at the time of sale. It appears, therefore, according to the appellant, that it has been paying duty on ....
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....ds are delivered at the time of removal in a packed condition, includes the cost of such packing except the cost of the packing which is of a durable nature and is returnable by the buyer to the asessee. Explanation :- In this sub-clause, 'packing' means the wrapper, container, bobbin, pirn, spool, reel or wrap beam or any other thing in which or on which the excisable goods are wrapped, contained or wound;" Since then the appellant has been paying duty on the cost of packing under protest and lodging claims of refund. The appellant, however, did not receive any refund nor any intimation that the claims of refund are or were being rejected. Various representations made by the appellant were in vain. The Assistant Collector of Central ....
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....nged to the appellant. The customer was billed for the cost of glass bottles only. The crates were returnable to the appellant within 30 days. The revenue has not included the cost of such crates in the assessable value. The revenue has also not included the cost of packing, if any, supplied by the customer himself. There was no dispute about these packings. So far as the packings in cartons and gunny bags were concerned, it was noted by the Tribunal, that these belonged to the appellant but their cost was realised from the customer along with the cost of glass bottles. The appellant's case was that these packings were also returnable and in many cases they were actually returned and re-used by the appellant. There were no evidence about th....
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....he case with the cartons and gunny bags. The buyers pay for these and the property in these pass on to the buyers. They could be asked to return them to the appellant only under a term of sale and on payment of the agreed amount and not for the free. No such contract or agreement was forthcoming. The Tribunal was not convinced that .to the normal course of business anyone could be asked to part with his property, and in addition incur return freight therefor too for nothing. In those circumstances, the Tribunal held that the cartons and gunny bags were not returnable in the accepted sense of the term. The Tribunal further noted that since the statute insisted on the packing being returnable. In addition to being durable, the authorities are....