2002 (1) TMI 242

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..... eals filed by the appellants, accompanying with the stay applications. 2. By impugned order, the Commissioner has imposed penalty of Rs. 1 lakh under Rule 173Q of the Central Excise Rules on the first appellant, M/s. India Cements Ltd. and Rs. 10,000 on G.S. Naidu, Assistant General Manager of the Company. 3. After hearing for sometime, with reference to the stay applications filed by the applic .....

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..... tation of cheques to the Department. The cheques were not dishonoured but duly realised. Goods were cleared on the basis of entries made in PLA after presentation of cheques. The Department had correspondence with the bank and found that the appellants did not have credit balance in the bank account. It was submitted by the Counsel that the cheques were duly realised on the basis of O.D facility a .....

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..... have failed to maintain sufficient balance in their account current inspite of their declaration/undertaking given at the time of presenting cheques to maintain the same. As a result of the above, the goods were cleared from the factory on which the duty element is Rs. 1,35,41,878/-, contrary to the provisions as stated above. However, I consider the lapse as "delayed payment of duty" only as the .....

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..... penalties. In support of his contention he referred to the following decisions :- (1) Apex Steels (P) Ltd. v. CCE, Chandigarh - 1995 (80) E.L.T. 368 (T) (2) Sona Wires (P) Ltd. v. CCE, Raipur - 1996 (87) E.L.T. 439 (T) (3) Synthetics and Chemicals Ltd. v. CCE, Kanpur - 1997 (89) E.L.T. 793 (T) (4) In Re: Sahara Airlines Ltd. - 2000 (117) E.L.T. 802 (GOI) (5) Master Strips Pvt. Ltd. v. CCE, Ba .....

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..... ew taken by the Tribunal in the cases referred to above. Further more, the Commissioner himself has given a categorical finding that there was no intention to evade payment of duty. In these circumstances, the imposition of penalty is not justifiable. Accordingly, we set aside the impugned order and appeals are allowed with consequential relief, if any.
Case laws, Decisions, Judgements, Orders .....

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