JUDGMENT :

Dipak Misra, J.

Leave granted in Special Leave Petition (C) No. 16248 of 2009.

2. This batch of appeals preferred under Section 35L of the Central

Excise Act, 1944 (for brevity, the Act) being inter-connected and inter-linked was heard together and is disposed of by a common judgment. It is necessary to clarify that the Revenue has preferred the appeals against the decisions rendered by the Customs, Excise & Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal (for short “the Tribunal”) at various Benches whereby the assessee-manufacturers have been extended the benefit of deduction of excise duty in respect of sales tax imposed by the State Government but not entirely paid to the State exchequer while determining the assessable value for the purpose of central excise, and some of the assessee-manufacturers have preferred appeals being grieved by the rejection for grant of similar relief pertaining to the payment made under the Central Sales Tax Act. For the sake of convenience, the facts from Civil Appeal Nos. 9154-9156 of 2003 are adumbrated herein as far as appeals by the Revenue are concerned. In respect of the challenge made by the assessee-manufacturers we shall take the facts from Civil