- (1.) THE writ proceedings before the Court have been filed by 16 coal traders seeking to impugn the legality of a recovery notice, dated 3 July 2014 issued by the Central Coalfields Ltd., a subsidiary of the first respondent, together with a memo of the first respondent, dated 5 March 2013. The petitioners also seek a refund of the amounts which have been collected or, as the case may be, deducted from their accounts in pursuance of the recovery memo. The petitioners are traders in coal who entered into commercial contracts with Eastern Coalfields Ltd. (respondent No. 3) and Central Coalfields Ltd. (respondent No. 6) under a Spot E -Auction Scheme, 2007. With effect from 1 March 20.11, as a result of the Finance Act, 2011, the central excise duty became payable on coal.
(2.) THE expression "transaction value" in section 4(3)(d) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 provides as follows: "'transaction value' means the price actually paid or payable for the goods, when sold, and includes in addition to the amount charged as price, any amount that the buyer is liable to pay to, or on behalf of, the assessee, by reason of, or in connection with the sale, whether payable at the time of the sale or at any other time, including, but not limited to, any amount charged for, or to make provision for, advertising or publicity, marketing and selling organization expenses, storage, outward handling, servicing, warranty, commission or any other matter; but does not include the amount of duty of excise, sales tax and other taxes, if any, actually paid or actually payable on such goods."
(3.) THE expression 'transaction value' does not include the amount of excise duty, sales tax and other taxes, if any, actually paid or actually payable on such goods. Under the terms and conditions governing the Spot E -Auction Scheme, 2007, the following provisions were made in clause 4.4: "The Buyers while bidding shall quote their "Bid price" per tonne in Indian Rupee as base coal price on FOR/FOB colliery basis, exclusive of other charges like statutory levies, surface transportation charges, sizing/beneficiation charges, taxes, cess, royalty, SED, and any other charges as will be applicable at the time of delivery. These charges as well as freight etc. shall be on the Buyers' account." ;