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Tax & Customs LawSupreme Court of India

CASE B: Commissioner of Central Excise v. M/s. Grasim Industries Ltd. Through Its Secretary

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 3159 of 2004)Decided 30 Mar 2016
Civil Appeal No. 3159 of 2004
Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice Arun Mishra · Justice Prafulla C. Pant

Background

This is a referral order, not a final judgment. The appeal by the Commissioner of Central Excise, Indore, heard with a long list of connected appeals, raised the question of how Sections 3 and 4 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 interact for valuation purposes. Two earlier three-judge decisions of the Supreme Court, Union of India v. Bombay Tyre International and CCE v. Acer Ltd., had taken apparently conflicting views on this point.

Decision Breakdown

This is a referral order, not a final judgment. The three-judge bench declined to express any opinion on the merits of either precedent. It directed that the matter, including this appeal, be placed before the Chief Justice of India for referral to a Larger Bench.

Lesson Learnt

There is no final ruling yet on how Sections 3 and 4 of the Central Excise Act interact for valuation. The question awaits a Larger Bench.

CASE B: Commissioner of Central Excise v. M/s. Grasim Industries Ltd. Through Its Secretary – Legal Case Shots | LegalAware