Post-removal freight and equalized freight are excluded from central excise assessable value in uniform-price sales.

Transportation charges for movement of goods from depot to buyers' premises were not includible in central excise assessable value where the declarations and transport documents supported post-removal freight, and the Revenue failed to prove that the charges related to movement from the factory gate to the depot. The same exclusion applied to equalized freight in a uniform-price sale structure, because such freight was outside valuation on the governing precedent relied upon. On that basis, the freight element was excluded from assessable value, and the demand and penalty could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether transportation charges claimed for movement of goods from depot to buyers' premises, or equalized freight in a uniform-price sale structure, were includible in the assessable value for central excise purposes.

Analysis: The declarations filed by the assessee and the transport documents supported the claim that the disputed amount represented freight from the depot to customers' premises. The lower authorities did not adduce effective evidence to rebut this position or to establish that the charges related to movement from the factory gate to the depot. Independently, even on the Revenue's version, freight of this nature was not liable to be added to assessable value where the price of the final product remained uniform across the country, and the legal position on exclusion of such equalized freight had already been affirmed in the governing precedent relied upon in the order.

Conclusion: The freight charges were not includible in the assessable value, and the assessee was entitled to relief.

Final Conclusion: The demand and penalty could not be sustained, and the appeal succeeded with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Freight charges for post-removal movement from depot to buyer, and equalized freight in a uniform-price structure, do not form part of the assessable value for central excise valuation.

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