2023 (8) TMI 1413

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..... s of one of the raw materials i.e. Formaldehyde. No investigation, whatsoever, concerning the use of the primary raw material, i.e. wood logs etc., electricity, labour, etc. has neither been investigated nor established. The aspect of transportation of the raw materials and the final products has not been looked into. As consistently held by the Courts and the Tribunals, allegation of clandestine removal is a serious charge; the same needs to be established the receipt of raw material, manufacture of excisable goods by deploying labour and by using electricity, transport of excisable goods to the buyers and financial transactions thereof. None of the elements have been proved even on a sample basis, leave alone in a mathematical precisio .....

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..... plywood and the same were decided. Hence, this appeal. 3. Shri Naveen Bindal, learned Counsel for the appellants, submits that among many show-cause notices issued to M/s Mahalakshmi Industries, M/s LRB Wood Industry were dropped by the Joint Commissioner, Central Excise, Panchkula, the adjudicating authority; the original authority confirmed the case against M/s Valcano Plywood Industries and M/s Virgo Boards Limited, which were confirmed by the appellate authority; on an appeal filed by the respective parties, this Bench has set aside the impugned orders stating that no evidence of clandestine removal has been established; no cross-examination of Shri Ashok Agarwal, whose statement was relied upon in the showcause notice; no inculpato .....

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..... the allegation of clandestine removal against the appellants on the basis of a third-party evidence in the form of Dharamkanta slips at the end of the supplier and the statement of Shri Ashok Agarwal, in charge of the supplying firms. We find that the appellants have not accepted the contention of the Department and the statement of Shri Agarwal; no opportunity to cross-examine the said Shri Agarwal has been accorded. Moreover, the allegation is sought to be sustained on the basis of alleged suppressed receipts of one of the raw materials i.e. Formaldehyde. No investigation, whatsoever, concerning the use of the primary raw material, i.e. wood logs etc., electricity, labour, etc. has neither been investigated nor established. The aspect of .....

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