Job worker duty evasion: pre-notice payment did not waive mandatory penalty and interest for suppressed clearances.

A job worker clearing manufactured goods without payment of duty remained liable for duty despite its role as a job worker. Payment of the duty before issue of the show cause notice did not remove the surviving liability for penalty and interest where the clearance involved suppression. The analysis states that, in such circumstances, the authority had no discretion to reduce the prescribed penalty or waive interest, and both penalty and interest remained payable.

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Issues: Whether penalty and interest could be waived or reduced where the assessee, described as a job worker, had cleared goods without payment of duty but had paid the duty before issuance of the show cause notice.

Analysis: The appellant's role as a job worker did not displace liability for duty on the manufactured goods. The duty had already been paid before the show cause notice and appropriated, but the only surviving question was the liability to penalty and interest. In a case involving suppression and clearance without payment of duty, the authority had no discretion to levy penalty below the prescribed amount or to waive interest.

Conclusion: Penalty and interest were held to be payable, and no reduction or waiver was allowed.

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