Assessable value cannot include separate erection and commissioning charges absent a specific allegation of shifted sale consideration.

Separate erection and commissioning receipts could not be added to the assessable value of manufactured goods unless the show cause notice specifically alleged, and the department proved, that those receipts represented shifted sale consideration or extra consideration for the goods. A mere allegation that customer receipts exceeded actual expenditure, or that the assessee earned a profit on the separate work, was insufficient to sustain inclusion in assessable value. On that basis, the addition of erection and commissioning charges was held unjustified and the departmental challenge failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the excess amounts collected towards erection and commissioning charges could be added to the assessable value of the manufactured goods, and whether the demand raised under the proviso to Section 11A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 was sustainable.

Analysis: The notice alleged only that the receipts from customers exceeded the actual expenditure incurred and that such excess was wilfully suppressed. It did not allege that any part of the sale price of the gas turbine had been shifted to the erection and commissioning charges so as to constitute extra consideration for the manufactured goods. In the absence of such a specific allegation, the department could not advance that case at the appellate stage. The profit earned on erection and commissioning work, by itself, could not be treated as part of the price of the manufactured product without more.

Conclusion: The addition of any part of the erection and commissioning charges to the assessable value was not justified. The assessee succeeded and the departmental appeal failed.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside, the assessee's appeal was allowed, and the department's appeal was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: An amount collected for separate erection and commissioning work cannot be included in the assessable value of manufactured goods unless the show cause notice specifically alleges and the department establishes that such amount represents shifted sale consideration or extra consideration for the goods.

---