2010 (8) TMI 546 - AT - Central Excise

Waiver of pre-deposit - Penalty - The contention of Applicant is that the submission of annual financial information statement was introduced by Notification No. 35/2004-C.E.(N.T.) dated 1-11-2004 therefore for the year 2003-04 the Applicants are not liable for any penalty for non-submission of annual financial information statement - Appellant had not filed the statement for the year 2003-04, 2004-05 and thereafter also even on the asking of the Revenue - The Appellant during the arguments admitted that for subsequent years also Appellants are paying the penalties as imposed by the Revenue - As Appellant had not filed the annual financial information statement and also not willing to file - Find no infirmity in the impugned order - Hence, the appeal is dismissed against of Applicant.

Summary

Issues:
1. Waiver of pre-deposit of penalty for non-submission of annual financial information statement.
2. Applicability of penalty for not filing the statement for the years in question.
3. Comparison with a previous judgment setting aside penalty.

Analysis:
1. The Applicant sought waiver of penalty of Rs. 10,000 for not submitting the annual financial information statement as required by Rule 12(2) of the Central Excise Rules, 2002. The penalty was imposed due to the failure to provide the statement. The Applicant argued that the requirement for the statement was introduced later, hence they should not be penalized for the year in question. They also cited a previous Tribunal decision to support their case.

2. The Revenue contended that the Applicant had not submitted the statement for multiple years, not just the one in question. The Applicant admitted during arguments that they had not supplied the statement even after the initial penalty was imposed. The Revenue argued that the penalty was rightly imposed due to the continuous non-compliance.

3. The Tribunal found that the Applicant had indeed failed to submit the annual financial information statement for the relevant period and subsequent years despite requests from the Revenue. While a previous judgment had set aside a penalty for a different case based on the introduction date of the requirement, in this case, the Applicant's continuous non-compliance and admission of paying penalties for subsequent years led the Tribunal to uphold the penalty. The Tribunal dismissed the Appeal and the Stay Petition, stating that the Applicant's failure to submit the statement and their unwillingness to do so did not warrant any change in the imposed penalty.

This comprehensive analysis covers the issues of waiver of penalty, the continuous non-compliance with the requirement to submit the annual financial information statement, and the comparison with a previous judgment, leading to the dismissal of the Appeal and the Stay Petition.