JUDGMENT

S.P.BHARUCHA, J.

(1) THESE appeals against the judgments and orders of the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate tribunal relate to the assessable value of computers for the purposes of excise duty. The appeals of M/s Wipro Information Technology Limited (Civil No. 79 of 1989 and M/s PSI Data Systems Limited (Civil No. 491 of 1989 relate to the tariff as it was prior to 28/2/1986. The appeal of M/s Tata Unisys Limited (Civil No. 6042 of 1994 relates to the present tariff under the central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.

(2) THE question, principally, is in relation to the inclusion of the value of software sold with the computer in the assessable value thereof. It is not the contention of the appellants that the firm or etched software that is implanted into a computer is not to be taken into account in the valuation thereof for the purposes of excise duty. It is their case that the value of the software, such as discs, floppies, CD ROMs and the like, that they may sell along with the computer is not to be taken into account for the aforesaid purpose.

(3) WE make it clear at the outset that when we shall speak of software, we shall be re