Commissioner imposes Rs. 17.85 crore demand on company, penalties on MD. Tribunal orders pre-deposit.

The jurisdictional Commissioner confirmed a duty demand of Rs. 17,85,62,431 against M/s. Parasrampuria Synthetics Limited and imposed penalties, including a Rs. 50 lakh penalty on the Managing Director. The appellant company and the Managing Director appealed the order, seeking waiver of pre-deposit under Section 35F of the Central Excise Act. The Tribunal directed the company to pre-deposit Rs. 3.5 crore within twelve weeks. Failure to comply led to the rejection of the company's appeal. The Managing Director was directed to pre-deposit Rs. 50 lakhs within four weeks, with his appeal scheduled for compliance on 5-10-2012.

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Issues involved:

The issues involved in the judgment are duty demand confirmation, penalty imposition, and non-compliance with pre-deposit orders under Section 35F of the Central Excise Act.

Duty Demand Confirmation and Penalty Imposition:

The jurisdictional Commissioner confirmed a duty demand of Rs. 17,85,62,431 against M/s. Parasrampuria Synthetics Limited along with interest and imposed an equal amount of penalty. Additionally, a penalty of Rs. 50 lakhs was imposed on appellant Shri Alok Parasrampuria, the Managing Director of the company, along with penalties on various other parties.

Non-Compliance with Pre-Deposit Orders:

Both the appellant company and Shri Alok Parasrampuria preferred appeals against the impugned order and sought waiver of pre-deposit under Section 35F of the Central Excise Act. The Tribunal, in a common order, directed the appellant company to pre-deposit Rs. 3.5 crore within twelve weeks. Non-compliance with the pre-deposit order led to the rejection of the company's appeal as per the provisions of Section 35F. Shri Alok Parasrampuria was directed to pre-deposit Rs. 50 lakhs, the penalty amount imposed on him, within four weeks from the date of the order. His appeal was scheduled for compliance on 5-10-2012.

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