By the Court.—The appeal by the revenue arises from a decision of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal dated 5 September 2013. A preliminary objection has been taken to the maintainability of the appeal on behalf of the assessee that within the meaning of Section 35G(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, an appeal shall not lie before this Court against an order relating, among other things, to the determination of any question having a relation to the rate of duty of excise or to the value of goods for the purpose of assessment. Hence, it has been urged that the appeal is not maintainable.

2. In order to determine the correctness of the preliminary objection, a brief reference to the factual conspectus would be in order.

3. The respondent which was a 100% Export Oriented Unit (EOU) was engaged in the manufacture and export of excisable goods covered under Chapter 29, “Organic Chemicals”, of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. From 26 March 2007 the respondent claims to have been operating as a 100% EOU under the Foreign Trade Policy. On 15 March 2011 the respondent applied for de-bonding of its EOU so as to permit it to operate as a DTA unit. On 25 March 2