Personal penalty for excise procedural lapse set aside where duty was paid and no intent to evade was found.

Personal penalty was not justified for clearance of excisable goods without strict compliance with the prescribed procedure where duty had already been debited before the show cause notice and the assessee had informed the Department in advance of the intended removal. The authority found no mala fide intention to evade Central Excise duty, and treated the prior disclosure and payment as material against penalty. Relying on the Board's view cited by the assessee, it held that the circumstances did not warrant imposition of personal penalty, and the penalty was set aside.

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Issues: Whether personal penalty was warranted for clearing excisable goods without following the prescribed procedure when duty had already been paid before the show cause notice and there was no mala fide intention to evade duty.

Analysis: The order records that the goods were removed from the factory and the duty was debited in the PLA before issuance of the show cause notice. It also notes that the assessee had informed the Department in advance about the intended clearance and the difficulty in storing the goods. On these facts, the authority found no indication of any mala fide intention to evade Central Excise duty. Following the Board's decision cited by the assessee, the authority held that the circumstances did not justify imposition of personal penalty.

Conclusion: The personal penalty was set aside.

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