9911796707
TMI Blog2001 (12) TMI 697X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ufacturing Sugar and Molasses and the other manufacturing Industrial and Potable Alcohol. The Sugar Division and the Chemical (Distillery) Division are located across a public road. They have separate Central Excise registration and are maintaining separate statutory records. The appellants wanted to have a common registration for the two Divisions and, accordingly, applied to the jurisdictional Commissioner of Central Excise. The Commissioner, after enquiries conducted through his subordinate officers, rejected the application. The decision of the Commissioner was ultimately communicated to the appellants by the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner by letter dated 24-8-2001 which was accompanied by a copy of letter dated 22-8-2001 of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ommissioner forwarded their application to the Commissioner suggesting in his covering letter that the request of the party was liable to be rejected in view of an earlier order passed in a similar case of M/s. K.M. Sugar Mills, Moti Nagar. The appellants have further pointed out that the said order of the Commissioner rejecting the request of M/s. K.M. Sugar Mills for single registration has been set aside by this Tribunal as per Order No. A/662/2001-NB(D) dated 3-9-2001 [2001 (133) E.L.T. 567 (T)]. The text of this order of the Tribunal has been brought on record. The appellants have also relied on Notification No. 35/2001-C.E. (N.T.) dated 26-6-2001 issued by the CBEC under Rule 9(2) of the Central Excise (No. 2) Rules 2001, whereunder t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le dealing with the issue, the High Court referred to Rule 175 and observed, inter alia, that, if the same person wanted licences for carrying on business in more than one capacity, he had to submit separate applications and that, under sub-rule 3, where the applicant had more than one place of business, he should obtain a separate licence in respect of each place of business. The Court held that, if the same manufacturer had to carry on business at more than one place, he must have separate licences. Ld. Sr. Advocate points out that it is this part of the judgment of the High Court that the Commissioner has relied on for holding that, even if the same manufacturer has two factories situate in the same area enclosed by a single compound wal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Sh. A.S. Bedi reiterates the averments contained in the impugned proceedings. He has endeavoured to distinguish the term Division from either of the terms Section and department used in the Trade Notice. According to him, the Trade Notice relates to different Sections or Departments of the same factory and not to different Divisions of the same manufacturer. The present appellants fall under the latter category and, therefore, the Trade Notice will have no application to this case. Ld. SDR further submits that the Board s Notification No. 35/2001 relied on by ld. counsel, being a Notificattion issued under the new rules, may not be applicable to a case like the instant one covered by the erstwhile Central Excise Rules. 6. I have co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... flung places. In the instant case, the two Divisions of the same manufacturer are situate in the same premises, separated only by a road. There is no comparison between the two cases. The High Court s decision is not applicable to this case. The Trade Notice, which has been ignored by the lower authority, clearly lays down that two Sections or Departments of the same manufacturer, in the same premises separated only by a road, are entitled to single Central Excise registration. The term Division is only synonymous with either of the terms Section and Department . Therefore, the provisions of the Trade Notice are clearly applicable to the appellants case and their application for single registration ought to have been allowed. 7. Ld. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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