Cumulative conditions for duty demand under warehouse-transfer rules must both be met; mere non-filing of triplicate copy is insufficient.

A duty demand under the warehouse-transfer procedure could not be sustained merely because the consignor failed to present the triplicate application within the prescribed time under Rule 156A(4). Rule 156B(1) was construed as requiring cumulative satisfaction of two conditions: non-presentation of the triplicate application in the prescribed manner and non-receipt of the duplicate application endorsed with the rewarehousing certificate from the destination warehouse. Because the second jurisdictional condition was not shown to exist, the demand was held illegal and set aside in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether a demand of duty could be raised under Rule 156B(1) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 merely because the consignor failed to present the triplicate application within the time prescribed under Rule 156A(4), when there was no finding that the duplicate application with the rewarehousing certificate had also not been received from the warehouse of destination.

Analysis: Rule 156A(4) obliges the consignor to present the triplicate application to the warehouse of removal within ninety days of issue of the transport permit. However, Rule 156B(1) permits a demand only when two conditions coexist: failure to present the triplicate application in the prescribed manner and non-receipt of the duplicate application endorsed with the rewarehousing certificate from the warehouse of destination. The statutory language makes both requirements cumulative and the existence of the second condition is a jurisdictional safeguard before duty can be demanded.

Conclusion: The demand could not be sustained because the second statutory condition under Rule 156B(1) was not shown to exist. The impugned demand was therefore illegal and liable to be set aside, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The duty demand was quashed because the authority acted without satisfying the full statutory conditions for invoking the levy mechanism under the warehouse-transfer rules.

Ratio Decidendi: A demand of duty under the warehouse-transfer procedure can be made only when every cumulative condition prescribed by the charging recovery rule is satisfied; failure to comply with the triplicate-copy requirement alone is insufficient.

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