TMI Blog1978 (10) TMI 41X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gs, of electric dry batteries, for which purpose it has factories in several places in India, Two of such factories are in Tiruvottiyor and Guindy, Madras. Electric dry batteries are goods which are excisable under the Act under Item No. 31(1) of the First Schedule to the Act. 3. The batteries manufactured by the petitioner are removed from the factory on payment of excise duty in accordance with the self-removal procedure to their sales godowns situated in different parts of India from where they are sold to wholesalers. In other words, no delivery of these goods is made at the place of removal i.e. the factory. The petitioner is required under the Central Excise Rules to submit to the excise authorities what are called price lists and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ioner have not been excluded from the price for arriving at the assessable value. 4. It is the case of petitioner that the excise authorities have committed an error in holding that a uniform price has been charged irrespective of the distance from the factory to the various destinations. In fact, a uniform price given which is to prevail throughout India. But so far as transportation charges for which exclusion was sought under Sec. 4(2) of the Act, they were separately noted and given. They are not uniform. They vary according to the destinations. In the counter affidavit of the department sworn by the Assistant Collector of Central Excise, it is stated that the petitioner is admittedly charging uniform price throughout the country in r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rative terms of Sec. 4(2) of the Act. 6. Mr. Chengalvarayan, learned counsel for the department, in seeking to support the impugned orders; would argue that when once a uniform price has been given and the freight goes into that structure, there is no possibility of such a freight being deducted for the purpose of computation of excise duty. From this point of view, no exception could be taken to the impugned orders, either that of the original authority or that of the appellate authority. 7. Having regard to the controversy, let me now extract the relevant portion in the appellate order to find out whether he had correctly appreciated the contention of the writ petitioner and whether he is correct in his conclusion. In paragraph 3 of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to Bombay, while 83 paise alone is charged as far as Calcutta is concerned. The notified price can include freight or transportation charges. There could be no legal objection to that. What a manufacturer manufactures is goods, he alone knows the cost of manufacture to which he is entitled to add discount, transport charges etc. and notify a price for the information of the dealer. Merely because such a price is uniform, there is nothing to indicate under Sec. 4(2) of the Act that freight becomes not excludable. At this stage, Sec. 4(2) of the Act may be extracted as below - "Where, in relation to any excisable goods the price thereof for delivery at the place of removal is not known and the value thereof is determined with reference to t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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