JUDGMENT : 1. This appeal by special leave is against the judgment of the High Court allowing a writ petition by the respondent. The High Court formulated the question for decision as under :- "The question which has been raised in this petition is whether excise duty is payable on the value of the cement alone or on the value of the cement and its containers." 2. This question has been answered in favour of the respondent by holding that the excise duty is payable on the value of the cement alone and the value of the containers is not to be included in the assessable value. 3. From the record it appears that the containers in which the cement was packed were gunny bags. However, all the facts relating to the packing of cement and the terms and conditions of the sale of the cement are not before us. The Assistant Collector in the original assessment, included the value of the packing material in determining the assessable value for the purpose of payment of excise duty. The Collector affirmed that order on appeal. Therefore, the assessee filed the writ petition which has been allowed by the High Court giving rise to this appeal. 4. The law on the point is well settled in view of the decision of this Court in Government of India v. Madras Rubber Factory Ltd. - (1995) 4 SCC 349 . The question is only of the application of the settled law to the facts of this case. As indicated, the facts are not clear from the record. It also appears that an inquiry into the facts was not made in the manner required for application of the law laid down in Madras Rubber Factory's case. It is, therefore, appropriate that a fresh assessment is made after proper inquiry into the facts and the law laid down in Madras Rubber Factory's case is applied to the facts so found. 5. For the above reasons, this appeal is allowed. The orders of the Assistant Collector and the High Court are set aside. The matter would now go back to the Assistant Collector for making the original assessment in accordance with law as indicated above.