Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
COLLECTOR OF CENTRAL EXCISE, BARODA
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
AMBALAL SARABHAI ENTERPRISES
DATE OF JUDGMENT10/08/1989
BENCH:
MUKHARJI, SABYASACHI (J)
BENCH:
MUKHARJI, SABYASACHI (J)
RAY, B.C. (J)
CITATION:
1990 AIR 59 1989 SCR (3) 784
1989 SCC (4) 112 JT 1989 (3) 341
1989 SCALE (2)255
CITATOR INFO :
R 1990 SC1893 (4)
ACT:
Central Excises And Salt Act, 1944/Central Excise Rules,
1944: Sections 3, 4,11-A and 35L--’Goods ’--Starch hydroly-
sate---Whether ’goods ’--Whether duty leviable.
HEADNOTE:
The respondent was engaged in the manufacture of sorbi-
tol, which fell under items 68 of the Central Excise Tariff.
During a visit to the factory premises by the Central Excise
Officers it was found that the respondent also manufactured
and captively consumed starch hydrolysate which, according
to the appellant, was glucose and fell under Item E of the
Central Excise Tariff. In reply to the show-cause notice
issued by the appellant, the respondent contended that
starch hydrolysate was not ’goods’ since the same was not
marketable and therefore no excise duty was payable on it;
and that even if the same was liable for duty it would not
be under Item 1-E. There were adjudication proceedings
thereafter, and the adjudicator held that starch hydrolysate
was glucose and fell under item E, and that the respondent
had suppressed the fact of manufacture thereof. In the
premises, the adjudicator ordered payment of excise duty and
further imposed a penalty.
The Tribunal, however, allowed the respondent’s appeal
and held that starch hydrolysate manufactured by the re-
spondent was not, and never was, a marketable commodity, and
hence that would not be ’goods’ on which excise duty could
be charged.
The Revenue appealed to this Court. Before this Court,
it was inter alia contended on behalf of the appellant: (i)
that the Tribunal misdirected itself in applying the proper
test for the determination of the question, and that the
true test to determine in a matter of this nature was to
consider not only whether starch hydrolysate was actually
marketable but also to consider whether conceptually the
said goods were capable of being marketed, and the Tribunal
should have examined or called for fresh evidence to deter-
mine that question; and (ii) even transient items of arti-
cles could he ’goods’. provided these were known in the
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market as distinct and separate articles having distinct and
separate uses, and if these were capable of being marketed
even during short period.
784
785
On behalf of the respondent it was contended that; (i)
starch hydrolysate which was utilised in the manufacture of
sorbitol, was not being marketed and was not capable of
being marketed in view of its highly unstable character
resulting in fragmentation even if kept for a day or two;
and (ii) starch hydrolysate was not marketable product and
would not therefore be "goods" on the manufacture of which
excise duty could have been demanded or would have been
payable and therefore for non-payment of duty, there had
been no negligence or failure.
Dismissing the appeal, this Court,
HELD: (1) If the process or activity of the assessee
brings into existence an article different and distinct from
what it was before the process and a new identifiable arti-
cle known in the market as such comes into being, then the
use of such article in the instant case starch
hydrolysate--would attract duty on the part of the assessee
even in captive consumption. [788G]
South Bihar Sugar Mills Ltd., etc. v. Union of India &
Ors., [1968] 3 SCR 21, referred to.
(2) The word "manufacture" implies a change but every
change in the raw material is not manufacture. There must be
such a transformation that a new and different article
emerges having a distinct name, character or use. [790D]
Union of India v. Delhi Cloth & General Mills Ltd.,
[1963] Supp. 1 SCR 586.
(3) Duty is levied on goods. As the Central Excises and
Salt Act, 1944 does not define "goods", the legislature must
be taken to have used that word in its ordinary, dictionary
meaning. The dictionary meaning of the expression is that to
become goods it must be something which can ordinarily come
to the market to be bought and sold and is known to the
market. It would be such an article which would attract
’duty’ under the Act. [790E]
Union Carbide India Ltd. v. Union of India & Ors.,
[1986] 24 ELT 169.
(4) It is true that the goods with unstable character
can be theoretically marketable if there was a market of
such transient type of articles which are goods. But one has
to take a practical approach. [792G]
786
(5) It was the duty of the Revenue to adduce evidence or
proof that the articles in question were goods. If the
Department was to charge duty of excise on this starch
hydrolysate as one form of glucose it would be the burden on
the Department to establish that starch hydrolysate was not
merely marketable but was being marketed as glucose in some
form. The Revenue has not produced any evidence whatsoever
though asked to do so. Bhor Industries Ltd. Bombay v. Col-
lector of Central Excise, Bombay, [1989] 1 SCC 602. [793A-F]
(6) It appears that there was no market enquiry by the
Revenue. In view of the fact that there was positive evi-
dence that starch hydrolysate was never marketed and in view
of further fact that in the light of the nature of the goods
being highly unstable, it was highly improbable that the
goods were capable of being marketed and there being in
spite of the opportunities, no evidence produced at all that
the goods, in fact, were capable of being marketable, it
must be held, as did the Tribunal, that the starch hydroly-
sate were not dutiable under the Central Excises and Salt
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Act, 1944. [794G-795A]
JUDGMENT:
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 22
15(NA) of 1988.
From the Judgment and Order dated 2.11.87 of the Customs
Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi in
Appeal No. 478 of 86--D (Order No. 877 of 1987-D.)
A.K. Ganguli, T.V.S.N. Chari, P. Parmeswaran and Sushma
Suri for the Appellant.
Soli J. Sorabjee, R. Narain, Kamal Mehta, P-K. Ram and
D.N. Misra for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
SABYASACHI MUKHARJI, J. This is an appeal under section
35L(b) of the Central Excises & Salt Act, 1944 (hereinafter
referred to as ’the Act’). The appeal is directed against
the order dated 2nd November, 1987 passed by the Customs,
Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi
(hereinafter referred to as ’the Tribunal’). The respondent,
viz., M/s Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises manufacture sorbitol
failing under item 68 of the erstwhile Central Excise Tar-
iff. There was a visit to the factory premises of the re-
spondent by the Central Excise Officers on 26th February,
1985. It was
787
allowed that it was found that the respondent manufactured
and captively consumed starch hydrolysate but the respondent
had failed to take out a licence with reference to the said
manufacture of starch hydrolysate and had been removing the
same without, according to the appellant, payment of duty
and without observing the necessary central excise formali-
ties. It was the view of the revenue that starch hydrolysate
was glucose and, therefore, fell under Item 1-E of the
Central Excise Tariff, which covered glucose in whatever
form including liquid glucose. Accordingly, a show cause
notice was issued to the respondent. A reply was filed on
behalf of the respondent contending that starch hydrolysate
was not "goods" since the same was not marketable and,
therefore, no excise duty would be payable on the same. In
those circumstances, it was submitted that the proposed
adjudication by the Collector following the aforesaid notice
was without jurisdiction in view of section 11A of the Act.
It was urged that starch hydrolysate is not glucose and that
even if the same was liable for duty it would not be under
item E. According to him, starch hydrolysate was an interme-
diate product in the manufacture of sorbitol and no duty
could be demanded on the same. There were adjudication
proceedings thereafter. In the said proceedings, affidavits
were filed on behalf of the respondent, witnesses on behalf
of the revenue were cross-examined and the Collector also
cross-examined the witnesses of the respondent. By an order
dated 6th December, 1985, the Collector of Central Excise,
Baroda rejected frae contention of the respondent. It was
held by him that starch hydrolysate was glucose and fell
under item 1-E of the Central Excise Tariff and that the
respondent had suppressed the fact of manufacture thereof
for consumption in the further manufacture of sorbitol. In
the premises, he ordered the respondent to pay excise duty
amounting to Rs.34,92,559.55 paise and imposed a penalty of
Rs. 10 lakhs. Aggrieved by the said order of the Collector,
the respondent preferred an appeal before the Tribunal. The
Tribunal by its order dated 2nd November, 1987, being the
order under appeal, held that starch hydrolysate manufac-
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tured by the respondent is not and never was marketable
commodity, and hence that would not be "goods" on which
excise duty could be charged. In the premises, the Tribunal
allowed the appeal filed by the respondent and set aside the
order of the Collector. Aggrieved thereby, the appellant has
come up in appeal to this Court under section 35L(b) of the
Act.
On behalf of the appellant, Shri Ganguly contended that
the Tribunal misdirected itself in applying the proper test
for the determination of the question. He urged that the
true test to determine in a
788
matter of this nature was to consider not only whether
starch hydrolysate was actually marketable but also to
consider whether conceptually the said goods in question
were capable of being marketable. It was urged by Shri
Ganguly that the Tribunal had misdirected itself in not
appreciating this aspect of the matter and did not as such
examine or view the evidence on record in the proper per-
spective. He urged that in the aforesaid light and in view
of the findings made by the Collector, there was no ground
for the Tribunal to interfere with the order of the Collec-
tor. He further submitted that in any event, if the Tribunal
was not fully satisfied with the evidence on record to
determine whether starch hydrolysate were goods in the sense
of being marketable, then the Tribunal should have, in the
facts and the circumstances of the case and in the interest
of justice, remanded the matter back for appraisement and
examination in the light of the true principle or the Tribu-
nal should have examined or called for the fresh evidence to
determine this question. The Tribunal not having done so,
has failed to render justice and as such the order of the
Tribunal is bad, according to Shri Ganguly. Shri Ganguly
further submitted that in starch hydrolysate the percentage
of dissolved solids present is 64. It was submitted that the
criterion laid down in the IS Specification for liquid
glucose or glucose syrup, the two terms are being used
synonymously by the Indian Standard Institution, was not
satisfied in this case. The IS Specification defines liquid
glucose or glucose syrup as "a refined and concentrated
non-crystalizable aqueous solution of d-glucose, maltose and
other polymers of d-glucose, obtained by controlled hydroly-
sis of starch containing material". The United States Phar-
meopeia XIX describes liquid hydrolysis of starch, consist-
ing chiefly of dextrose, dextrins, maltose and water and in
these circumstances and in view of the components and the
dictionary meaning as discussed by the Tribunal in its
order, it is urged that it cannot be said that the said
goods is the same thing as glucose or glucose syrup. In the
premises, it was contended that the Tribunal has not consid-
ered this aspect of the matter.
We are concerned in this appeal with starch hydrolysate
and, therefore, if the process or activity of the assessee
brings into existence an article different and distinct from
what it was before the process and a new identifiable arti-
cle known in the market as such comes into being, then the
use of such starch hydrolysate captively would attract duty
on the part of the assessee even in captive consumption. It
is not in dispute as the Tribunal noted in the instant case
that starch is hydrolysed by the respondent. The operation
of hydrolysis, it is contended, results in bringing into
being starch hydrolysate which is utilised in the manufac-
ture of sorbitol. The question is--whether
789
starch hydrolysate is "goods". The case of the respondent
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was that the starch hydrolysate being wholly unstable and
quickly fragmented and losing its character in a couple of
days, the same could, therefore, neither be stored nor
marketed. In the premises, it was the case of the respondent
that starch hydrolysate was not marketable product and would
not, therefore, be "goods" on the manufacture of which
excise duty could have been demanded or would have been
payable and, therefore, for non-payment of duty, there has
been no negligence or failure on the part of the respondent
and as such section 11-A of the Act was not applicable. In
this connection, it would be instructive to refer and it
would be necessary to rely on the principles laid down by
this Court in South Bihar Sugar Mills Ltd., etc. v. Union of
India & Ors., [1968] 3 SCR 21. There, the appellant compa-
nies manufactured sugar by carbonation process and paid
excise duty on sugar manufactured by them under Item I of
Schedule I to the Act. According to one affidavit filed on
behalf of the respondents, filed in those proceedings, these
manufacturers employed a process of burning lime-stone with
coke in a lime kiln with a regulated amount of air whereby a
mixture of gases was generated consisting of carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, oxygen and a small quantity of carbon monoxide.
The gas thus produced was thereafter compressed so as to
achieve pressure exceeding atmospheric pressure and then
passed through a tank containing sugarcane juice so as to
remove impurities from it and to refine the juice. For that
process of refining it was only the carbon dioxide in the
gas which was used and the other gases, i.e., nitrogen,
oxygen and carbon monoxide escaped into the atmosphere by a
vent provided for the purpose. The carbon dioxide content in
this mixture of gases ranged from 27 to 36.5%. Similarly,
another company manufactured Soda ash by solvay ammonia soda
process for which also carbon dioxide was required and this
was produced by the petitioner therein by burning lime-stone
with coke in a kiln in the same manner as the appellant
sugar manufacturing companies employing the carbonation
process. The respondents therein regarded all the companies
as manufacturers of compressed carbon dioxide and levied
excise duty on them under Item 14-H in Schedule I to the
Act. Writ petitions were filed in the High Court challenging
the validity of the excise duty but the same petitions were
dismissed. It was contended, inter alia, on behalf of the
appellants therein that the lime kiln was maintained to
generate a mixture of gases and not carbon dioxide and at no
stage in the process of generating this mixture and passing
it through the sugarcane juice was carbon dioxide--which
formed one of the contents of the mixture--either com-
pressed, liquidified or solidified. The mixture of gases so
generated was not carbon dioxide as known to the market nor
was it accord-
790
ing to the specifications laid down by the Indian Standards
Institution which required the carbon dioxide content to be
at least 99%. It was, therefore, contended that the excise
duty sought to be recovered on the contend of carbon dioxide
in the mixture of gases could not fall under Item 14-H. It
was further contended that the duty being on goods it could
be charged only on goods known as carbon dioxide in the
trade and marketable as such. As is evident from the said
narration of facts the contentions urged were more or less
similar to the contentions involved in the instant appeal
before us. It was held by this Court that the gas generated
by the appellant companies was kiln gas and not carbon
dioxide as known to the trade, i.e., to those who dealt in
it or who used it. The kiln gas in question, therefore, was
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neither carbon dioxide nor compressed carbon dioxide known
as such to the commercial community and therefore, could not
attract item 14-H in the First Schedule. This Court reiter-
ated at p. 31 of the report that the Act in question charges
duty on manufacture of goods. The word "manufacture" implies
a change but every change in the raw material is not manu-
facture. There must be such a transformation that a new and
different article must emerge having a distinct name, char-
acter or use. The duty is levied on goods. As the Act does
not define goods, the legislature must be taken to have used
that word in its ordinary, dictionary meaning. The diction-
ary meaning of the expression is that to become goods it
must be something which can ordinarily come to the market to
be bought and sold and is known to the market. It would be
such an article which would attract duty under the Act. This
Court referred to the previous decision in the case of Union
of India v. Delhi Cloth & General Mills Ltd., [1963] Suppl.
1 SCR 586. Therefore, in this instant appeal, in order to
determine whether starch hydrolysate was "goods" or not, it
is necessary to determine whether there was any application
of process to the raw materials and as a result of that
application there emerged new and different article having a
distinctive name, character or use and the resultant product
being goods in the sense of being marketable or marketed. In
this connection, Shri Soli Sorabjee referred us to the
observations of this Court in Union Carbide India Ltd. v.
Union of India and Ors., [1986] 24 ELT 169. There, this
Court reiterated that in order to attract excise duty, the
article manufactured must be capable of being sold to a
consumer. Entry 84 of List I of Schedule VII to the Consti-
tution specifically speaks of "duty of excise on tobacco or
other goods manufactured or produced in India" and it is now
well accepted that excise duty is an indirect tax, in which
the burden of the imposition is passed on to the ultimate
consumer. This Court held that in that context, the expres-
sion "goods manufactured or produced" must refer to articles
which
791
are capable of being sold to a consumer. To become "goods",
an article must be something which can ordinarily come to
the market to be bought and sold. The Court found in that
case that aluminium cans prepared by the appellants therein
were employed entirely by it in the manufacture of flash-
lights and were not sold as aluminium cans in the market. It
also appeared from the records that aluminium cans at the
point of levy of excise duty existed in a crude and elemen-
tary form which were incapable of being employed as a compo-
nent in a flashlight. These cans had sharp uneven edges and
in order to use them as a component in making flashlight
cans, these cans had to undergo various processes such as
trimming, threading and redrawing. After that these were
reeded, beaded and anodized or painted, it was at that point
only that these became distinct and complete component
capable of being used as flashlight cans for housing battery
cells and having a bulb fitted to the can. This Court noted
that it was difficult to believe that the elementary and
unfurnished form in which these existed immediately after
extrusion sufficed to attract a market. The assertion of the
appellant on affidavit that aluminium cans were unknown in
that form in the market had not been proved to the contrary
by any satisfactory material by the respondents therein.
This Court further found that not a single instance had been
provided by the respondents domenstrating that such alumini-
um cans had a market. The conduct of the appellants in the
past, having regard to the circumstances of the case, would
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not serve as evidence of the marketability of the aluminium
cans, it was in that case. This Court noted that record
disclosed that whatever aluminium cans were produced by the
appellants were subsequently developed by it into a complet-
ed and perfected component for being employed as flashlight
cans. In those circumstances, the aluminium cans produced by
the appellants were not liable to excise duty under section
3 of the Act read with Item 27 of the Central Excise Tariff.
In the case of Bhor Industries Ltd., Bombay v. Collector
of Central Excise, Bombay, [1989] 1 SCC 602, this Court had
to deal with the liability to duty on intermediate products
and it was reiterated that liability to excise duty arises
only when there is manufacture of goods which is marketable
or capable of being marketed. It was held that excise is a
duty on goods as specified in the Schedule. The taxable
event in the case of excise duties is the manufacture of
goods. Under the Act, in order to be goods as specified in
the Entry, it was essential that as a result of manufacture
goods must come into existence. For articles to be goods,
these must be known in the market as such or these must be
capable of being sold in the market as goods. Actual sale
792
is not necessary. User in the captive consumption is not
determinative but the articles must be capable of being sold
in the market or known in the market as goods. It is, there-
fore, necessary to find out whether these are goods, that is
to say, articles as known in the market as separate distinct
identifiable commodities and whether the tariff duty levied
would be as specified in the Schedule. Marketability, there-
fore, is an essential ingredient in order to be dutiable
under the Schedule to Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. In
that case, the Court found that crude PVC firms as produced
by the appellant were not known in the market and could not
be sold in the market and was not capable of being marketa-
ble. The Court further reiterated that it was the duty of
the revenue to adduce evidence or proof that the articles in
question were goods. The Tribunal went wrong, it was held,
in not applying the test of marketability. There being no
contrary evidence found by the Tribunal in that case, it was
held that in those circumstances, no excise duty should be
charged.
It is in this light, therefore, that the evidence dis-
cussed by the Tribunal in this case, have to be viewed in
order to test the validity of the order impugned. The case
of the respondent had always been that starch hydrolysate
was not being marketed and is not capable of being marketed
in view of its highly unstable character resulting in fer-
mentation even if kept for a day or two. Shri Ganguly ap-
pearing for the revenue sought to urge that the Tribunal was
wrong in approaching the problem in that light. The test was
not whether the starch hydrolysate was not of a highly
unstable character and resulted in fermentation even in a
day or two, but whether it was capable of being marketable.
He submitted that the test applied was not the true test. He
urged that even transient items of articles can be goods,
provided that these were known in the market as distinct and
separate articles having distinctive and separate uses,
these would still become goods if these were capable of
being marketed even during short period. From a conceptual
and jurisprudential point of view, Shri Ganguly is right.
But we are concerned with the question whether actual goods
in question were marketed or, in other words, if not, wheth-
er these are marketable or not. It is true that the goods
with unstable character can be theoretically marketable if
there was a market of such transient type of articles which
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are goods. But one has to take a practical approach. The
assessee produced evidence in the form of affidavit. One
Shri Khandot. who filed an affidavit in support of the case
of the respondent, had stated in his affidavit that com-
pletely hydrolysed starch would start fermenting and decom-
posin and at higher concentration it would start crystaliz-
ing out within two or three days. This is evidence indicat-
793
ing propensity of its not being marketed. It is good evi-
dence to come to this conclusion that it would be unlikely
to be marketable as it was highly unstable. There was evi-
dence as noted by the Tribunal that it has not been marketed
by anyone. There is also an admission of the Superintendent
of the appellant that no enquiry whatsoever was conducted by
the Department as to whether starch hydrolysate was ever
marketed by anybody. It was pointed out by the revenue that
even according to the respondent, it stored starch hydroly-
sate in tanks before transporting it through pipes but
according to the appellant, the storage of starch hydroly-
sate was only for a period of a few hours only as a step in
the process of transfer thereof to sorbitol. It, therefore,
appears to us that there was substantial evidence that
having regard to the nature of the goods that this was
unlikely that the goods in question were marketable. This
should be judged in the background of the evidence that the
goods have not been marketed in a pregmatic manner. All this
again would have to be judged in the light of the fact that
revenue has not adduced-any evidence whatsoever though asked
to do so. It was pointed out that if the Department was to
charge duty of excise on this starch hydrolysate as one form
of glucose it would be the burden on the Department to
establish that starch hydrolysate was not merely marketable
but was being marketed as glucose in some form. This would
be so since what is liable for duty under item E is glucose
in any form and, therefore, in order to demand duty under
that section, the Department must establish that the product
on which duty was demanded was known in the market as glu-
cose in one form or the other. There .is no such evidence as
observed by the Tribunal. The Tribunal noted and, in our
opinion, rightly that revenue cannot be said to have dis-
charged its burden of establishing that by applying the
process of hydrolysis to starch for production of starch
hydrolysate the respondent manufacturers any excisable goods
in the sense of being goods known in the market and being
marketed or marketable. Our attention was drawn to the
affidavit of Shri P.D. Khander, Chemist, who was a Food
Technologist and was holding a degree of B.Sc. (Chemistry).
He was carrying on business of dealing in glucose. He stated
in his affidavit as follows:
. " 14. I have been the starch hydroly-
sate made by Sarabhai M. Chemicals. It is
completely hydrolysed starch. It appears as
aqueous syrup containing about 66-71% reduc
ing sugars expressed as Dextrose. It is nei-
ther glucose or dextrose in any form
nor glucose in liquid state nor liquid
glucose. In order to find out the market for
completely hydrolysed starch as is made
in Sarabhai M. Chemicals, at
794
their instance, I had made trade inquiries.
However, there is no market for such sub-
stance. Since it can act only as an intermedi-
ate product for the manufacture of Sorbitol.
Dextrose or Glucose and Fructose and every
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manufacturer of Glucose, Dextrose, Sorbitol
and Fructose would have his own plant for
hydrolysing starch, it is commercially not a
viable proposition both the manufacturers of
Glucose, Dextrose, Sorbitol or Fructose or the
persons undertaking the process of hydrolysing
starch either to purchase completely hydroly-
sed starch from the market or sell or under-
take process of hydrolysing starch for the
purpose of sale in the market, because at
lower concentration, starch which is complete-
ly hydrolysed would start fermenting and
decomposing. At higher concentration, it would
start crystallising out within two or three
days."
This affidavit evidence remains uncontradicted- Shri
Ganguly, however, drew our attention to an order of the
Tribunal in M/s. Anil Starch Products Ltd., Ahmedabad v. The
Collector of Central Excise, Ahmedabad being Appeal No.
ED(SB)(T) 1534/81-D arising out of the Revision Order No.
820/81. He referred to the observations at page 117 of the
Paper Book which dealt with the evidence of one Shri Khabho-
lia, where, according to Shri Ganguly, the Tribunal came to
a different conclusion. But the Tribunal in that case relied
on the decision of the Allahabad High Court in the case of
Union of India v. Union Carbide India Ltd., [1978] ELT 1.
There the Allahabad High Court held that things would be
nevertheless goods even these did not have a general market,
where they can be easily bought and sold. The High Court
hold that the fact that products might not be known to the
general public or to the traders in general would not change
the position and therefore the test did not appear to be
sound. This decision of the Allahabad High Court which was
relied upon by the Tribunal was set aside by this Court in
Appeal in the case of Union Carbide India Ltd. v. Union of
India & Ors. (supra). In view of the test laid down and in
view of the evidence discussed, it is difficult to sustain
the order of the Tribunal. In this connection, it appears
that there was no market enquiry by the Revenue. Reference
may be made to the crossexamination of Shri Shukla, Superin-
tendent (Central Excise) by Shri Nanawati as appears at pp.
235-237 of the present paper book. In view of the fact that
there was positive evidence that starch hydrolysate was
never marketed and in view of further fact that in the light
of the nature of the goods being highly unstable, it is
highly improbable that the goods were capable of being
marketed and there being in spite of
795
the opportunities, no evidence produced at all that the
goods, in fact, were capable of being marketable, in our
opinion, it must be held as did the Tribunal that the starch
hydrolysate were not dutiable under the Act.
In the premises, the revenue has failed to discharge its
onus to prove that starch hydrolysate was dutiable. In the
premises, the Tribunal cannot be said to have committed any
error. The appeal must, therefore, fail and is, accordingly,
dismissed. In the facts and the circumstances of the case,
there will, however, be no orders as to costs.
R.S.S. Appeal dis-
missed.
796