Excise valuation includes factory-to-depot transport cost after the section 4 amendment, and the appeal failed.

Following the 1996 amendment to section 4, transportation cost incurred for moving excisable goods from the factory to the depot from which clearance is effected was treated as part of the assessable value. The valuation issue was taken as already governed by an earlier ruling between the same parties in a connected matter, and that ruling was applied to the present appeal. On that basis, the cost of transport from the factory to the depot was held includible in assessable value, and the appeal failed.

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Issues: Whether, after the 1996 amendment to section 4, the cost of transportation of excisable goods from the factory to the depot from which they are cleared forms part of the assessable value.

Analysis: The appeal was taken up on merits because remand for compliance with the pre-deposit direction would have been pointless. The question was the same valuation issue already decided between the parties in a connected matter, and the earlier ruling was treated as governing the present appeal.

Conclusion: The cost of transportation from the factory to the depot was held to be includible in the assessable value. The appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Following the post-1996 amendment to section 4, transportation cost incurred for moving excisable goods from the factory to the depot from which clearance is effected is includible in assessable value.

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