The matter arises under the Central Excises and Salt Act 1 of 1944, hereinafter referred to as the Act. The first-respondent in respect of electric fluorescent lighting tubes manufactured by the petitioner and sold on wholesale basis to M/s. General Electric Company of India (P) Ltd., Calcutta, hereinafter referred to as the Company, held that the price of such sales could not be taken to be the 'wholesale cash price' within the meaning of Section 4(a) of the Act as the section stood prior to 1-10-1975, and he held that the excisable value of such tubes could be only at the rates at which they were in turn sold by the company. Section 4 of the Act, prior to its substitution with effect from 1-10-1975 read as follows :

"Where under this Act, any article is chargeable with duty at a rate dependent on the value of the article, such value shall be deemed to be :-

(a) the wholesale cash price for which an article of the like kind and quality is sold or is capable of being sold at the time of the removal of the article chargeable with duty from the factory or any other premises of manufacture or production for delivery at the place of manufacture or production, or if a wholesal