2023 (3) TMI 735 - AT - Central Excise

Valuation of goods - freight charged separately in the sale invoices of excisable goods is includible in the assessable value of such excisable goods or not - goods are to be delivered at buyer’s premises from the factory of the appellant on FOR destination basis - place of removal - HELD THAT:- There is no dispute in the fact that the appellant have cleared the goods from their factory and delivered at the buyer’s premises. In the invoice the freight was charged separately when the sell invoice was issued from the factory at the time of clearances of goods. The factory gate is the place of removal. Merely because the appellant is under obligation to deliver the goods at the buyer’s premises, the place of removal which is a factory gate cannot be extended and buyer’s premises cannot be made as place of removal.

This issue has been considered by this Tribunal in the case of SAVITA OIL TECHNOLOGIES LTD. VERSUS C.C.E. & S.T. DAMAN [2022 (7) TMI 138 - CESTAT AHMEDABAD], wherein the reliance was placed on the Hon’ble Supreme Court judgment in the case of COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS AND CENTRAL EXCISE, NAGPUR VERSUS M/S ISPAT INDUSTRIES LTD. [2015 (10) TMI 613 - SUPREME COURT]. The tribunal in Savita Oil Technologies held that buyer’s premises cannot, in law, be a “place of removal” under Section 4. In this matrix of facts, the decision of Commissioner holding buyer’s premises as “place of removal” cannot be upheld.

Thus, the freight cannot be included in the assessable value in the facts of the present case. Consequently, no demand of duty on freight would sustain - appeal allowed.