02 May 1989
Supreme Court
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UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Vs PUROLATOR INDIA LTD.

Bench: MUKHARJI,SABYASACHI (J)
Case number: Appeal Civil 1491 of 1988


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PETITIONER: UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: PUROLATOR INDIA LTD.

DATE OF JUDGMENT02/05/1989

BENCH: MUKHARJI, SABYASACHI (J) BENCH: MUKHARJI, SABYASACHI (J) RANGNATHAN, S.

CITATION:  1990 AIR  202            1989 SCR  (2)1023  1989 SCC  (3) 181        JT 1989 (3)    11  1989 SCALE  (1)1186

ACT:     Central  Excises and Salt Act, 1944.  Sections  4(1)(a), 4(4)(c)  Assessee--Manufacturing and selling filters in  the brand name of customers--Excise duty--Assessment of.

HEADNOTE:     The  respondent  company, manufacturer of  filters,  was selling  the  goods to its customers under brand  names.  It declared  its assessable value on the basis of the price  at which  it  sold  the goods. Show  Cause  Notices,  requiring assessable value to he determined at the price the buyers of the  respondent  company sold the goods, issued to  the  re- spondent  were  challenged  by it and quashed  by  the  High Court. Hence this appeal by the Revenue. Dismissing the appeal, this Court     HELD: 1. For the purposes of the excise duty, the market value  of the goods of the respondent company was the  price charged by it, and not the market value at which the  buyers of  the respondent company sold the goods. The  High  Court, therefore, rightly quashed the Show Cause Notices. [872C]     The  Union of India & Ors. v. M/s Playworld  Electronics Pvt. Ltd. & Anr., Civil Appeal No. 859 of 1988 (S.C.) decid- ed on 2nd May, 1989, applied.

JUDGMENT:     CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 1491 (NN) of 1988. From  the Judgment and Order dated 30.5. 1986 of  the  Delhi High Court in W. No. 578 of 1981.     A.  Subba Rao, P. Parmeshwaran and Mrs. Sushma Suri  for the Appellants. H.N. Salve, P.K. Ram and D.N. Misra for the Respondent. 872 The Judgment of the Court was delivered by     SABYASACHI  MUKHARJI,  J. This is an appeal  by  special leave and is connected with Civil Appeal No. 859. This is an appeal  from  the judgment and order of the  High  Court  of Delhi dated 30th May, 1986.     It  appears  that in October, 1975, Trade  Notices  were

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issued  on  the basis of the directive of  the  Ministry  of Finance to the effect that the owners of the brand name  are to  be treated as the manufacturers of the goods. In  April, 1977,  price list submitted by the respondent declaring  the assessable  value  on the basis of the price  at  which  the assessee-respondent  sold  the  goods.  Thereafter  on  16th April, 1977, there was a letter written by respondent giving the  list of the customers of the respondent and  clarifying the  terms  and conditions on which the  assessee  sold  the goods. On August 22, 1977, the appellants wrote a letter  to the assessee-respondent seeking certain information, intera- lia, to the effect whether the assessee and its buyers  were related  persons. A reply was given on 10th September,  1977 by  the assessee to the aforesaid letter. First  notice  was issued  asking  the  assessee to show cause as  to  why  the assessable  value be not determined at the price the  buyers of  the  assessee sold the goods (instead of  the  price  at which the assessee sold the goods to its buyers). There  was a reply and the second show cause notice was issued on  28th January, 1981. These show cause notices were challenged  and the High Court quashed the said notices. Aggrieved  thereby, this appeal has been filed.     The  respondent is a registered company carrying on  the business  of manufacturing and selling filters. Some of  the goods are sold by the respondent to its customers under  the respective brand names. The respondent filed a price list at which price the goods were sold to the customers.     In  view of the principles indicated in the judgment  in Civil  Appeal No. 859 and the facts adduced before the  High Court,  the High Court’s judgment cannot be interfered.  The appeal, therefore, fails and is accordingly dismissed. T.N.A.                                  Appeal dismissed. 873