Reduced penalty under Central Excise law remains available despite waiver of pre-deposit, where statutory conditions are met.

Section 11AC and Section 35F of the Central Excise Act, 1944 operate in different fields and must be read harmoniously; waiver of pre-deposit for appellate hearing does not extinguish the statutory option to pay reduced penalty at 25% within the prescribed period, provided the statutory conditions are satisfied. The assessee could therefore still avail the reduced penalty despite the appeal having been heard without pre-deposit, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the assessee could avail reduced penalty of 25% under Section 11AC of the Central Excise Act, 1944 after the appeal was heard without pre-deposit under Section 35F of the Central Excise Act, 1944, if duty, interest and penalty were paid within 30 days of communication of the order-in-appeal.

Analysis: The provisions dealing with reduced penalty and waiver of pre-deposit operate in different fields and do not override each other. They are to be construed harmoniously. The availability of appellate hearing without pre-deposit does not take away the statutory option to pay penalty at the reduced rate within the prescribed period, provided the accompanying statutory conditions are met.

Conclusion: The reduced penalty of 25% under Section 11AC remained available to the assessee notwithstanding the waiver of pre-deposit under Section 35F, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 11AC and Section 35F of the Central Excise Act, 1944 are independent and must be harmoniously construed; waiver of pre-deposit does not extinguish the statutory option to discharge reduced penalty within the prescribed time.

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