ORDER

1. In this appeal under Section l30-E of the Customs Act, 1962 (for short "the Act") the following question of law has been framed by the Revenue for adjudication:

"Whether to accept the transaction value as declared by the importer or the price of imported goods be determined on the basis of LME prices."

2. Briefly stated the material facts giving rise to the present appeal are as follows: the respondent assessee filed two bills of entry dated 16-9-1988 and 17 -12-1998 for clearance of brass scrap and copper scrap as per ISRI grade 6 "honey" and "birth/cliff" respectively. The bills of entry were assessed at the declared invoice value viz. CIF US $1100 and US $1300 PMT respectively. After inspection, the goods were cleared on payment of customs duty assessed.

3. Subsequently, on the basis of the information received from the London Metal Exchange (for short "LME") to the effect that the price of the f said metals in LME as on the date of import was more than the price declared by the respondent, an additional duty amounting to Rs. 90,248 and Rs.,94,035 respectively was demanded from the assessee on the said two bills of entry. The additional demand having been confirmed by the D