LPG delivery charges excluded from assessable value where transportation was a separate post-clearance activity.

Delivery charges recovered for transporting LPG from bottling plants to dealers' premises were treated as a separate post-clearance activity and not part of the assessable value for central excise. The valuation issue was decided consistently with the assessee's own earlier case for a comparable period, which had been affirmed by the Supreme Court. On that basis, the charges were held outside the price of the bulk LPG cleared from the warehouse, so they were not includible in assessable value. The duty demand and connected penalties were therefore unsustainable, and the appeals succeeded in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether delivery charges collected for transportation of LPG from the bottling plants to dealers' premises were includible in the assessable value for central excise duty.

Analysis: The valuation dispute turned on whether the amounts recovered as delivery charges formed part of the price of the bulk LPG cleared from the warehouse. The issue had already been decided in the assessee's own case for a comparable period, and that view had been affirmed by the Supreme Court. On that basis, transportation from the bottling plants to the dealers' premises was treated as a separate activity and not part of manufacture for valuation purposes.

Conclusion: Delivery charges were not includible in the assessable value. The duty demand and connected penalties were unsustainable and the appeals succeeded in favour of the assessee.

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