2013 (9) TMI 1118 - HC - Central Excise

Summary

Issues involved: Appeal u/s 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944 regarding manipulation of records and genuineness of declarations.

In this judgment by the Allahabad High Court, the central issue revolved around whether an order passed by the Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax Tribunal, New Delhi, based on manipulated records and not verified for genuineness, could be amended or modified by the High Court. The Court found that the question of law was not correctly framed and was raised on the basis of facts related to declarations not being filed for certain years and the authenticity of the entries in the receipt register being questioned. The department had conducted examinations which revealed tampering and fraudulent insertions in the records, a fact not raised before the Adjudicating Officer or the appellate authority. Consequently, the Court held that it could not entertain an appeal on a question that was not raised initially and lacked factual foundation.

The judgment emphasized that the defence put forth by the department regarding the tampered entries was not considered by the authorities, leading to a misunderstanding that the declarations were filed within the limitation period. It was noted that subsequent inquiries by the department revealed the tampering in the receipt register. As a result, the Court dismissed the appeal under Section 35G, granting liberty to the Central Excise Department to file a review petition before the Tribunal for a decision based on merits.