Home Case Index All Cases Central Excise Central Excise + AT Central Excise - 2020 (2) TMI AT This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2020 (2) TMI 686 - AT - Central ExciseMarketibility/excisability - Milk Crumb - clearing the product to sister concern as intermediate goods - revenue neutrality - HELD THAT:- There seems to be no dispute about various propositions of the law for determining excisability/dutiability of the goods. One of the tests that has to be conclusively established, is that the product is marketable. It has also been held in various decisions that marketability essentially does not mean “being marketed” - In the case of COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL EXCISE, JAIPUR VERSUS HINDUSTAN ZINC LTD. [2004 (3) TMI 64 - SUPREME COURT], the Hon’ble Supreme Court has specifically laid down that actual purchase or sale is not necessary for determining the marketability of any goods. What needs to be shown is that the product is capable of being taken to the market to be sold and the market recognizes the said product as such. Now examining the various evidences led in the present case, the first and the foremost being that the respondents themselves have been treating this goods as excisable and were discharging the duty demand on that till October 2006. Hence they were themselves treating these goods as marketable contrary to the decision in the case of COLLECTOR OF C. EXCISE, PUNE VERSUS HINDUSTAN COCOA PRODUCTS LTD. [1996 (7) TMI 257 - CEGAT, NEW DELHI] - Once they themselves have been doing so, they cannot turn around and say that the product which was marketable till that date has become unmarketable. There is no dispute with regard to the shelf life of the product. Shelf life of the product is one of the determinant of the product being marketable. If some product is having no shelf life or a very short shelf life, then the same could not be held to be marketable as has been held in the decision of the Apex Court in the case of Moti Laminates. That is not the case here. Revenue neutrality - HELD THAT:- If the issue was revenue neutral, the respondent would have paid the duty and taken the credit whatsoever, if the same was admissible. Secondly revenue neutrality can never be ground for not demanding the duty on the excisable goods in the form and manner they are being cleared by the assessee. Thus, the goods in question viz. milk crumb is marketable and hence excisable - appeal allowed - decided in favor of Revenue.
|