1985 (9) TMI 90 - SC - Central Excise

Whether the cost of final packing in corrugated fibre board containers would be liable to be included in the value of the cigarettes for the purpose of assessment to excise duty?

Held that:- Now it is apparent that under s. 3 of the Act the levy of excise duty is made on manufactured cigarettes, which after all are the excisable goods. And s. 4 provides how the value of manufactured cigarettes shall be determined. The expression "value" has been extended to include the cost of packing. The packing itself is not the subject of the levy of excise duty. The manufactured cigarettes are the subject of the levy, because excise duty is here charged on the manufactured commodity, that is to say, cigarettes. For the purpose of computing the measure of the levy, however, the statute has given an extended meaning to the expression "value" in clause (d) of sub-section (4) of section 4 of the Act. Plainly, the extension must be strictly construed, for what is being included-in the value now is something beyond the value of the manufactured commodity itself.