9911796707
TMI Blog2000 (8) TMI 577X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... earned Advocate submitted that all the three appellants manufacture bars and rods of mild steel from rerollable waste and scrap obtained from Railways who auction their old and discarded rails, wheels, fish plates, etc.; that the Commissioner under the impugned orders has confirmed the demand of duty and imposed penalty holding that the purchase from Railways through auction cannot be treated to be duty-paid inputs; that the Commissioner had reached the conclusion without verifying the facts from Railways whether at the time of purchase Rails, wheels, etc. these were duty-paid or not; that admittedly these materials were purchased by the railways from the manufacturers who had paid the duty at the time of clearance; that these rails, wheels ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... L.T. 243 wherein it was held that the discarded items are not the product of manufacturing process; they are not excisable and there is no evidence on record that at any stage any central excise duty has been paid thereon. The learned SDR mentioned that the same reasoning will apply to the rails, wheels and sleepers as these were also discarded after being used by Railways. He also placed reliance on the decision in the case of Indian Plastics Ltd. v. CCE, Bolpur, 2000 (118) E.L.T. 268 (Tribunal) = 2000 (70) ECC 242 (T). In that case the Larger Bench of the Appellate Tribunal referred to the decision in the case of Machine Builders v. CCE, Bolpur, 1996 (83) E.L.T. 576, wherein it was held that the correct view is that the words inputs are ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be any presumption about duty-paid nature and the benefit of Notification will be available only subject to the condition that the inputs have suffered appropriate duty. 5. We have considered the submissions of both the sides. Notification No. 202/88-CE, dated 20th May, 1988 exempts specified products from payment of duty subject to the condition that the final products are made from any goods specified in the table annexed to the Notification on which the duty of excise leviable has already been paid. The Appellants are using used rails, sleepers, wheels, etc. which have been purchased by them in auction from Railways for manufacture of final products. The used rails, wheels, and sleepers, etc. have not suffered any excise duty at the t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... regarding payment of duty has not been complied with. Learned SDR has also rightly submitted that the presumption about duty-paying nature of the inputs cannot be made merely on the basis of the fact that inputs have been specified in the Notification. There is no force in the submissions of the learned Advocate that the larger period of limitation is not invokable as the rails, sleepers, wheels have been included in the Notification subsequently. Learned Advocate has relied upon the decision in the case of Digamber Foundry and Others v. CCE, Kanpur, final order Nos. 1063-1066/2000-B, dated 29th May, 2000, in which the demand was held to be time-barred following the ratio of the decision of the Tribunal in the case of Vivek Rerolling Mills ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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