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2016 (3) TMI 475 - AT - Central ExciseMRP based valuation - removal of goods without packing - Eligibility for abatement - short payment of excise duty while clearing 'spare parts' to their own unit in the Domestic Tariff Area - MRP-based assessment - assessee computed additional duty on maximum Retail Price adjusted for abatement and did not pay Special Additional Duty at 4% - refund of special additional duty exists for availment upon production of proof of such trade - Held that:- It is not the packaging that determines the applicability of mandate of affixing the 'retail sale price' but the product itself. Consequences of non-conforming packaging are not escapement from the mandate but the enforcement of penal detriment. The reasoning in the impugned order that bulk packaging will render the tractor parts outside the pale of 'retail selling price' is flawed as the primary responsibility under Central Excise (Determination of Retail Sale Price of Excisable Goods) Rules, 2008 is to penalize non-compliance and to determine the 'retail selling price' as per the Rules instead of opting for an opportunity to collect more duty through an inapplicable provision. Being parts of tractors, the goods cannot but find their way through commercial channels to an end-consumer who is an individual. The form of packing cannot alter this reality. By and large, manufacturers do not sell directly to retailers; they, too, with such an interpretation of applicability of 'retail selling price' prescription could claim that their packing is intended only for the intermediaries in the channel. That would run counter to the avowed objective of the law relating to affixing of details on retail packing. The channel is, therefore, not relevant and only the product is. Upon sales of such notified products to institutions who are the deemed final consumers, escapement from 'maximum retail price' assessment even if the goods do have such labeling is an option. This facilitation is a consequence of such institutions absorbing the product as an input for the service rendered by them to the final consumers or for manufacture of a final product. Tractor parts are not amenable to sale in such manner. It is the produce of the appellant that will alone satisfy the consumer need. The produce of the appellant cannot be cleared in any manner other than in accordance with the prescriptions in the Packaged Commodity Rules, 2007. No evidence has been put forth that it has been cleared otherwise by the appellant. The assessment by the appellant is, therefore, not liable to be faulted. The appellant is, thereby, eligible for the abatement. The computation and payment of duty by the appellant has been appropriate and in accordance with law. No action for recovery of any further amount lies. - Decided in favour of assessee
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