9911796707
TMI Blog1999 (9) TMI 264X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Central Excise department for manufacture of PVC pipes. They had been availing credit facilities of Central Excise duty paid on the inputs used in the manufacture of those pipes. However, on 6-8-1997 when surprise check was made by the Preventive Officers of the Central Excise, shortage in the stock of certain varieties of PVC pipes involving Central Excise duty of Rs. 7015.57 and in the stock of PVC Resin involving Modvat credit of Rs. 1,02,651.32 was detected. The respondents could not offer any plausible explanation of this shortage and they were served with a show cause notice dated 29-9-1997 wherein all these facts were brought to their notice and their reply was sought. That notice was contested by the respondents by alleging that PVC ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dity of the impugned order solely on the ground that the Commissioner (Appeals) had no power to reduce the penalty amount on appeal filed before him by the respondents against the order-in-original of the Additional Commissioner and as such the impugned order passed by him be set aside and the order of the Additional Commissioner be restored. 8. I have given my careful thought to this contention of the JDR but the same in my view is not liable to be accepted. Rule 173Q of the Central Excise Rules only enacts that in case of contravention of the provisions of any of the Rules by a manufacturer, purchaser, by removing any excisable goods in contravention of the provisions of the Rules etc., the goods shall be liable to confiscation and the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y under any circumstances cannot be less than that. This Section only provides the maximum penalty which can be imposed on the defaulting assessee and cannot be said to be mandatory. In this context, reference may be made to State of Madhya Pradesh v. Bharat Heavy Electricals reported in 1998 (99) E.L.T. 33 (S.C.). That was a case under Section 7(5) of the Madhya Pradesh Sthaniya Kshetra Me Mal Ke Pravesh Par Kar Adhiniyam, 1976 which laid down that the assessee shall be liable to penalty equal to the ten times of the amount of entry tax in case of default. The provisions of Section 7(5) of that Act are akin to the provisions of Section 11AC of Central Excise Act and Section 114A of the Customs Act. Considering the provisions of all these A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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