K.L. Rekhi, Member (T)

1. The respondents manufacture and sell computers. The dispute in this appeal of the department is whether -

(i) technical consultancy fee;

(ii) installation and commissioning charges;

(iii) charges for training the staff of the customer;

(iv) warranty charges;

(v) other service charges; and

(vi) software/ROMs supply charges

should form a part of the value of the computers for purposes of assessment of central excise duty under Section 4 of the Central Excises and Salt Act,

2. The dispute pertains to 5 price-lists of 1983. The respondents filed these price-lists in Part II, separate for each contract of sale. The purchase order itself was Annexed to the price lists and it disclosed the goods and the services to be supplied and the charges therefor. When we saw the price-lists, we found that they were stamped with an un-dated approval endorsement by the Assistant Collector. A doubt arose in our mind whether after having approved the price-lists, net of the software and service charges, the Assistant Collector could re-open the assessment on his own. The learned representative of the department then explained that the sequence of events was not so. He stated that