2002 (5) TMI 58

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..... 000, held that the respondent was liable to pay a duty of Rs. 22,44,086.79. A penalty of Rs. 22,44,087/- was also imposed under Section 11AC of the Central Excise Act, 1944. On failure to make the deposit, interest @ 20% had to be paid. 2.Aggrieved by the order, the respondent filed an appeal. The Tribunal vide its order dated May 11, 2001, has found that the Authority had placed reliance on the statements of 15 persons recorded during investigation. These persons had not appeared during the proceedings to face cross-examination. Thus, the Commissioner had erred in recording findings on the basis of the statements of these persons. It was further held that "there was no evidence to corroborate the statements. No cones of the worsted wooll .....

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..... wing the appeal of the party merely on the ground that the buyers, whose statements were recorded, have not been cross-examined, when the buyers did not retract their statements and whether to meet the principles of natural justice, it was not imperative on Tribunal to remand the case back to the adjudicating authority for afresh adjudication after cross-examining the witnesses ? (ii) Whether the confessional statements of buyers placed on record are not sufficient to prove the removal of dutiable goods in the guise of exempted goods when the statements have neither been retracted nor proved otherwise? (iii) Whether the statements recorded under Section 14 of Central Excise Act, 1944 are not ipso facto admissible and suffic .....

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..... larly, no recovery of cones had been made from the premises of the buyers. Not even a single invoice indicating the supply of worsted woollen yarn cones by the respondent to any of the buyers was produced. Still further, the documents collected during the course of investigation clearly showed that the respondent had described the goods as worsted woollen yarn - hanks. Thus, the documentary evidence clearly belies the suggestion that the respondent had supplied worsted woollen cones to the respondent. 7.Lest there should be failure of justice, we have repeatedly asked Mr. Govind Goel to refer to any evidence on the record which may even remotely suggest that any of the findings of fact recorded by the Tribunal is inaccurate. Learned Couns .....

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