Valuation of DTA clearances of 'tea' by EOU to be valued as per Excise law: Apex Court

Central Excise: Where, as per exemption notification, DTA clearances by EOU are liable to excise duty equal to duty on clearances by non-EOUs, said DTA clearances are to be valued as per Central Excise Valuation rules.

Facts:

a)     Assessee was a 100% EOU engaged in manufacture of instant tea. It cleared tea manufactured wholly out of indigenous raw materials, to its sister concerns in EOU.

b)   Since, as per Notifications 8/97 and 23/2003, said clearance of tea was liable duty equal to ‘excise duty’ and any excess was exempted, assessee valued said tea as per rule 8 of Central Excise Valuation (Determination of Price of Excisable Goods) Rules, 2000.

c)    Department argued that since DTA clearances by EOU are liable to excise duty equal to ‘customs duty leviable’, tea was to be valued as per customs law.

d)   Tribunal decided in favour of assessee and aggrieved department filed civil appeal in Apex Court.

Apex Court decided in favour of Assessee as under:

1) There is no doubt that the duty of excise leviable under Section 3 would be on the basis of the value of like goods produced or manufactured outside India as determinable in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 and the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. However, the notification states that duty calculated on the said basis would only be payable to the extent of like goods manufactured in India by persons other than 100% EOUs.

2)    It is clear that in the absence of actual sales in the wholesale market, when goods are captively consumed and not sold, Rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules would have to be followed to determine what would be the amount equal to the duty of excise leviable on like goods.

3)   It is also clear that the said notification has been framed by the Central Government, in its wisdom, to levy only what is levied by way of excise duty on similar goods manufactured in India, on goods produced and sold by 100% EOUs in the domestic tariff area if they are produced from indigenous raw materials.

4)    Therefore, DTA clearances by assessee are rightly valued as per Central Excise Valuation rules. Appeal is, accordingly, dismissed - Commissioner of Central Excise v. Nestle India Ltd.

[2015] 63 taxmann.com 312 (SC)