Extended limitation cannot apply where site-based job-work clearances were disclosed and the department had knowledge of the facts.

Where an assessee disclosed the site-based job-work arrangement, obtained Central Excise registration, and filed RT-12 returns with duty-paying invoices, the department's knowledge of the clearances prevented any finding of suppression of facts with intent to evade duty. On those facts, the extended period of limitation was unavailable, and the demand was time-barred. The valuation dispute concerning goods fabricated at the buyer's site from free-issue materials did not overcome the limitation bar, so the impugned orders were set aside.

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Issues: Whether the demand was barred by limitation in the absence of suppression of facts by the assessee, and whether the goods fabricated at site from free-issue materials supplied by the buyer were correctly dealt with for valuation purposes.

Analysis: The goods were fabricated at the buyer's site under a contract that disclosed the scope of work, and the challan-cum-invoices described the goods as fabricated pipes from supplied free-issue material on job-work basis. The assessee had obtained Central Excise registration for the site and filed RT-12 returns along with duty-paying documents. These records were available to the department, so concealment of the manufacturing activity or the nature of the clearances could not be attributed to the assessee. In the absence of suppression with intent to evade duty, the extended period of limitation was not available. Since the clearances were made from free materials supplied under the contract and the goods were consumed by the buyer for the project, the dispute on valuation did not save the demand from the limitation bar.

Conclusion: The demand was held to be time-barred, and the impugned orders were set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the assessee disclosed the contractual arrangement, filed return documents with duty-paying invoices, and the department had knowledge of the site-based job-work clearances, the extended period of limitation cannot be invoked in the absence of suppression of facts with intent to evade duty.

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