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TMI Blog2005 (5) TMI 538X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ound that it was clearly established that excisable goods of the value of Rs. 97,29,450.25P were cleared by the appellant company from their factory without payment of Central Excise duty under Rule 9(2) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 read with Section 11-A of the Central Excises Salt Act and imposing a penalty of Rs. 5 lakh on the appellant under Rules 9(2), 52-A, 173-Q and 226 of the said Rules for such contraventions. 2. A show notice was issued on 15-3-91 to the appellant on the ground that the appellant had received and stored a quantity of 44,610.71 L.Mtrs. gray and in-process fabrics, 48,876.26 L.Mtrs. fully processed fabrics, without accountal in the statutory Central Excise records, and further, removed a quantity of 1,50,66 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... some of these goods. Moreover, despite this elaborate statement tendered on 19-2-91 i.e. almost five months after the date on which various discrepancies came to light in the factory, the Director of the company did not mention anything about subjecting of some of the goods into single processing. It was apparent that the party had deliberately not accounted such gray fabrics in their records so as to facilitate surreptitious removal of the processed fabrics manufactured from such gray fabrics. It was also held on the basis of material on record that fully processed fabrics appeared to have been cleared without cover of any Central Excise document. Strong evidence was found about clearance of unaccounted goods and no clarification was fort ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er argued that since the matter related to additional excise duty for the period from 19-8-89 to 18-9-90, no penalty could have been imposed, in view of the ratio of the decision of the Supreme Court in Collector of Central Excise, Ahmedabad v. Orient Fabrics Pvt. Ltd., reported in 2003 (158) E.L.T. 545 (S.C.) = 2002 AIR SCW 6529 and the decision of the Delhi High Court in Pioneer Silk Mills Pvt. Ltd. v. Union of India, reported in 1995 (80) E.L.T. 507 (Del.), which was confirmed by the Supreme Court in the decision reported in 2002 (145) E.L.T. A74. 6. The learned authorized representative for the department supported the reasoning contained in the impugned order and submitted that in the classification list the appellant never mentioned ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sts of the relevant period. Ravi Shankar, Senior Commercial Officer of the appellant had produced copies of the classification lists on 17-1-91, and these classification lists admittedly made no mention of the exemption notification nor did they contain any reference to single processing . Even the director of the appellant Shri P. K Jain and other officers did not raise any such plea before the seizing officers in their statements. When confronted with the evidence about the clearance of fully processed fabrics from the appellant s unit during the period from 19-8-89 to 18-9-90 which were not accounted for in the statutory record, Ravi Shankar stated that he was not aware as to why in respect of these goods no GP. l or GP. 2 had been issu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h no clarification was forthcoming. 9. It would thus be seen that there is no basis for the appellant s contention that the appellant was entitled to any exemption under the single processing exemption notification. In fact, there is nothing available on record to show how many number of processes or what process was undertaken on job-work basis, in respect of the goods in question by the appellant. The surreptitious removal of goods without cover of documents was noted by the Collector clearly in the context of the justification for the extended time for initiating the action and the contention that the show cause notice was time barred, is without any basis. 10. So far as the imposition of penalty is concerned, we find that since the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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