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TMI Blog2007 (10) TMI 524X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the tempo is not tallying with the goods loaded in the tempo and, hence, took the said tempo back to the appellant's premises and conducted further investigation. The officers noticed shortages in finished goods as compared to the book balance and they also noticed that there was a mismatch of the stock of grey fabrics in the appellant s records. Statements of various persons as well as merchant-exporters were recorded and on conclusion of such investigation, show cause notice dated 4-7-92 was issued to the appellant's demanding a duty of Rs. 8,36,512.83. The said show notice was adjudicated by the Commissioner, who dropped the proceedings initiated by the said show cause notice. The revenue being aggrieved by the order of the Commissioner preferred an appeal to the Tribunal. The Tribunal vide order No. CI/3009 to 3021/WZB/2003 dated 1-12-2003 [2004 (175) E.L.T. 683 (Tribunal)] set aside the order and remanded the case back to the original adjudicating authority for reconsidering the issues. The adjudicating authority has passed the current order on remand proceedings. 3. Ld. Commissioner in remand proceedings has decided the following issues :- The show cause notice dated 4 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... show that the exact quantity of the goods, which were found short by the authorities, has been returned by them to the merchants, as unusable grey fabrics. It is his submission that the said grey fabrics were sent on ordinary challan. The serial number of said challans are mentioned in the grey lot register. It is his submission that there is nothing on record to show that the appellant had cleared processed fabrics as grey return in order to evade the payment of Central Excise duty. He relies on the Trade Notice No. 33/(MP)/CH.52(30)6/93, dated 22-10-93, which instructed the trade that damaged or defective grey cloth received, should be sent to the supplier of the goods under proper documents, like challans/advice, etc., and debit entry should be made in Form IV accounts with remarks to that effect. (c) Shortages in finished stock : On shortages of finished stocks, it is his submission that the finished fabrics, which were found short to the tune of 1,33,201.70 L.Mtrs as compared to the RG-1 register was not correctly calculated by the investigating officers. He submits that this was due to mis-reading of the documents and also due to the certain wrong quantification of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... perused the records. 7. Contention of the ld. Advocate that they had not been granted cross-examination of the merchant-exporters, who had deposed against them would be of no consequence, as the cross-examination of such persons was never agitated by them before the Tribunal when the matter came up for hearing in the first round of litigation. Further, I find that the cross-examination of the merchant-exporters is a distinct possibility as on today as the matter is of 1992. Acceding to this plea would be a futile exercise, which would protract the litigation. Hence, seeking a remand second time for having not been given cross-examination is a non-starter and is rejected. 8. I propose to take up the appeal for disposal on the three issues, which are decided by the adjudicating authority in the current matter. 8.1 As regards the goods seized in the intercepted tempo, I find that the ld. Counsel is relying basically on the gate passes produced by him, which were recovered from the tempo, when intercepted. On perusal of the said gate passes I find that though the gate passes mentioned the serial number, identification number of the packages along with width, it is seen that the s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nce with the trade notice dated 22-10-93. In the said trade notice, the Collector of Central Excise Bombay-II intimated the trade as under :- Damaged or defective grey cloth received, should be sent to the supplier of goods under proper documents, like challans/advice, etc., and debit entry should be made in Form IV accounts with remarks to that effect. The full name and address of the persons, to whom these defective or damaged materials are returned could be clearly shown. Challans/Advices for return of grey fabrics, should be made available, to the Central Excise Officers, on demand, for verification . The appellants have followed the procedure, as was instructed by trade notice of Collector of Central Excise, Mumbai-II and the said details were available with the authorities when they resumed the records from the appellant s factory. The adjudicating authority has not considered these facts and nor has he considered fit to call for any challans or persons to whom such challans were addressed. The very existence of challans, which indicate return of the grey fabrics back to the merchant-exporters, lead to inference that the appellant had in fact returned the said grey fabri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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