Photographic service valuation follows settled Tribunal precedent: materials and consumables remain deductible from taxable value.

In photographic services, the value of materials and consumables used or sold was deductible from taxable value under Notification No. 12/2003-ST, because the Tribunal had already settled the valuation issue in earlier decisions allowing such deductions. The Commissioner (Appeals) followed that settled view after accepting the assessee's evidence on materials used, and the Tribunal held that judicial discipline required adherence to its own precedent in the absence of any stay or higher-court reversal. A contrary departmental clarification and reliance on C.K. Jidheesh did not displace that position, as that decision concerned constitutional validity rather than this valuation question.

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Issues: Whether, in respect of photographic services, the value of materials and consumables used or sold is deductible from the taxable value under Notification No. 12/2003-ST.

Analysis: The dispute had already been decided by the Tribunal in earlier decisions relating to photographic services, where deductions for consumables and materials used in rendering the service were allowed. The Commissioner (Appeals) followed those rulings and accepted the assessee's evidence on the materials used. The Revenue relied on a contrary departmental clarification and on the Supreme Court decision in C.K. Jidheesh, but that judgment was noted to concern constitutional validity and not the present valuation issue. In the absence of any stay against the Tribunal's earlier rulings, judicial discipline required following the settled view.

Conclusion: The deduction for materials and consumables was rightly allowed, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the valuation issue in photographic services has already been settled by binding Tribunal precedent, and no contrary stay or higher-court interference exists, the value of materials and consumables used or sold cannot be added to the taxable value contrary to that settled view.

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