SUJATA TEXTILES MILLS Vs. COMMISSIONER OF C. EX.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellants, M/s Sujata Textiles Mills, are engaged in the manufacture of cotton yarn, flax yarn and man -made yarn which are excisable goods. In arriving at the value of the goods so manufactured for the purpose of assessment, they claimed various deductions like turnover tax, cash discount, trade discount and dealer discount, octroi, etc. The discounts so claimed by the manufacturer were not allowed by the department. Notice dated 1 -12 -1995 was issued to the manufacturer requiring them to show cause as to why various deductions claimed as per the price list should not be disallowed. Those deductions included trade discount and cash discount; freight and insurance; transport bills and octroi; brokerage; selling commission; interest on inventories; depot expenses; turnover tax and Textile Committee Cess and Central Excise duty, other than actuals paid at the time of clearance of goods. Adjudicating authority by Order -in -Original No. 124/96, dated 29 -3 -1996 allowed deductions claimed towards octroi, transportation and insurance charges and Textile Committee Cess on actual. A claim of deduction on account of turnover tax, selling commission, brokerage, depot expenses and interest on finished goods, inventories were disallowed. Trade discount and cash discount paid till 31 -1 -1996 was disallowed but the same incurred from 1 -2 -1996 was allowed to be deducted. In terms of this finding he modified the price declarations and consequently demands were confirmed. Manufacturer took up the above or -der -in -appeal. Appellant authority, namely, the Commissioner (A) by Or -der -in -Appeal No. 465/98 - -C.E., dated 27 -3 -1998 dismissed the appeal. Hence, the manufacturer has approached this Tribunal questioning the correctness of the orders of the authorities below in refusing the deduction of the amount payable as turnover tax and the amount taken as trade discount/cash discount.

(2.) THE period with which we are concerned in this appeal, as can be seen from the order -in -original, is from December 1994 to April 1995. The adjudicating authority directed the Superintendent of Central Excise to finalise the provisional assessment in terms of his orders.

(3.) THE same issue, namely, whether the department was right in not allowing the turnover tax to be deducted in determining the assessable value and whether the cash discount was also a permissible deduction, came up for consideration before this Tribunal at the instance of the present appellant for an earlier period in Appeal Nos. E/958/98 -A and E/1025 -1034/98 -A. This Tribunal accepted the contention of the appellant on the deductibility of turnover tax and held that turnover tax is to be deducted in determining the assessable value. On the issue of deductibility of the trade discount, matter was remitted to the adjudicating authority to enter a finding as to whether trade discount as claimed by the manufacturer was known to the trade before clearance. The above view taken by the Tribunal in Final Order Nos. 849 -859/99 -A, dated 11 -6 -1999 was placed before us in support of the appellant's contention that they are entitled to deduct the turnover tax from the price for arriving at the assessable value for the purpose of charging duty. Ld. Counsel also submitted that on the question of trade discount, the matter may be remitted back, for the authorities to find whether the trade discount was known to the trade before effecting clearance of the goods.