TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1989 (9) TMI 226
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....appellants are manufacturers of Travel Goods such as suitcases, briefcases etc. in their factories at Bombay, Satara, Paithan & Waluj, all situated in the State of Maharashtra. The appellants-assessee manufacture Travel Bags of various sizes falling under erstwhile Tariff Item 48A of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944. Among them, certain bags which were 26" in size were provided with a special type of bracket at the bottom. These brackets are fitted to these bags at the assessee's factory. These brackets are provided for fixing of wheels to the suit cases to enable them to be carried easily from place to place. These wheel kits are not manufactured by them but are purchased after due payment of duty. These Wheel Kits are accounted sepa....
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....el, submitted that prima facie the impugned order suffers from illegality for want of jurisdiction due to the fact that the same issue was already adjudicated by the Assistant Collector who had the jurisdiction in respect of Satara Unit holding that the value of the Wheel Kits is not to be included in the assessable value of the suitcase and this order was challenged by the Department before the Collector (Appeals) who upheld the decision of the Assistant Collector holding that value of the Kits cannot be included and hence in view of this fact that Executive Collector, Pune is not competent to pass order in respect of the same matter which had been disposed of by the Collector (Appeals) and if he considered that the order of the Collector ....
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....as not sold with Kits Wheel, that itself is clear proof to show that all the sales were not with Kitwheels and hence the Kit Wheels are neither essential nor integral part of the suitcase but it is only an optional accessory. Strong reliance was placed by the Counsel producing a copy of the Order No. V(48)15-36/Adj./87, dated October, 1987 passed by the other Executive Collector of Central Excise and Customs, Aurangabad in the very appellants' case in respect of the other Unit/Factory at Paithen District within territorial jurisdiction of Collector of Central Excise and Customs, Aurangabad wherein he has passed a considered order after making detailed enquiries holding that Wheel Kit is only optional depending upon the customer's choice and....
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....on for the purposes of claiming exemption. He further submitted that if this trend is allowed then there will be a series of cases for claiming refund and deduction when the price of the cleared goods comes down. Hence neither it is the intention nor the scope of the Legislature as specified under Section 4 of the Act. 6. Shri V.K. Sharma, learned S.D.R. appearing for the Department, reiterated the points which the Adjudicating Authority has adjudicated and submitted that the order is justified as Wheel Kit is a part of the suit case and its value is to be added, and also justified levy of differential duty which has taken place due to variation in prices. 7. We have anxiously considered the arguments advanced by both sides. Although ....
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....tor, the Appellants' contention is well founded based on facts and legal position and accordingly, Wheel Kit is only an accessory and cannot be treated as a part of the product for the purpose of assessable value. Appellant's counsel cited series of decisions regarding exclusion of the value of the accessories and with utmost respect to all decisions, we would like to consider only few for the sake of convenience and brevity. In the case of State of Mysore v. M/s. Kores (India) Ltd. (26 S.T.C. 87) the then High Court of Mysore has taken a view that typewriter ribbon is not an essential part of a typewriter but it is an accessory and not a part of the typewriter (unlike spool) though it may not be possible to type out any matter without i....