JUDGMENT

P. Venkatarama Reddi, J.-The question raised in these appeals filed by the assessee under Section 35L(b) of the Central Excise Act is whether the royalty amount collected by it from the bottlers for use of the trademark lehar on the soft drink beverages manufactured out of the concentrate sold by the appellant is includible in the assessable value of the concentrates. The appellant and its buyers (hereinafter referred to as the bottlers ) are governed by an agreement captioned as "PFL Bottling Appointment and Trademarks Licence Agreement With Bottlers", the terms of which we shall advert to later.

2. For the period 1.9.1992 to 31.3.1993 (which is covered by C.A. No. 4051 of 1996) and for the period 1.4.1993 to 31.12.1993 (which is covered by C.A.No. 1385 of 1999), the appellant filed price-lists of their product. On perusal of the details furnished with the pricelist, the Department became aware of the fact that royalty charges were being received by the appellant under the terms of an agreement permitting the use of trademark lehar . The Assistant Collector of Central Excise and Customs, Patiala issued show cause notices proposing the inclusion of the royalty charges