Tribunal rules in favor of appellant, finding no duty payment default. Withdrawal of payment facility limited.

The Tribunal set aside the impugned order and ruled in favor of the appellant, finding no default in duty payment as the delays were justified. The facility for fortnightly payment can only be withdrawn after three defaults, and in this case, there was only one remaining default after considering the contested instances.

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Issues: Withdrawal of facility for fortnightly payment of duty based on alleged defaults in payment.

In this case, the appellant filed an appeal against the withdrawal of the facility for fortnightly payment of duty by the Commissioner (Appeals) due to alleged defaults in duty payment. The appellant argued that there were two instances where duty payments were delayed, but they were not at fault as one payment was made the next working day due to a Sunday and the other payment was delayed due to the bank's accounting practices. The appellant presented a bank certificate to support their claims. The adjudicating authority initially accepted the appellant's explanations, but the Commissioner of Central Excise reviewed the decision and held that the delay was not condonable. The Revenue supported the findings in the impugned order. However, the Tribunal found that there was no default in duty payment by the appellant as the delays were justified. The Tribunal noted that the facility of fortnightly payment can only be withdrawn if there are more than three defaults, and in this case, there was only one remaining default after considering the two contested instances. Therefore, the Tribunal set aside the impugned order and allowed the appeal, ruling in favor of the appellant.

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