Separate excise registration upheld for coating unit outside area-based exemption and operating from segregated premises

A coating unit that had been bifurcated from a bare pipe unit, with separate premises and independently installed plant and machinery, was outside the area-based exemption under Notification No. 39/2001-C.E. Because the unit was not covered by the notification, approval of the committee constituted under it was not required. The record also showed that central excise registration is ordinarily factory-wise, and the Board instructions on single registration for multiple premises did not the Revenue on these facts. Separate registration for the coating unit was therefore upheld.

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Issues: Whether a separate registration could be granted for the coating unit after segregation from the bare pipe unit, when the coating unit was found to have separate plant and machinery and was not covered by Notification No. 39/2001-C.E.

Analysis: The premises were verified and it was found that the coating unit had been set up with new plant and machinery after the cut-off date and that refund for coated pipes had already been rejected. On that basis, the coating unit was held to be outside the area based exemption scheme. Once the unit was not covered by the notification, insistence on approval of the committee constituted under the notification did not arise. The record also showed that the coating division and the bare pipe unit had been bifurcated into two separate factory premises. In central excise law, registration is ordinarily factory-wise, and the Board instructions permitting single registration for multiple premises did not assist the Revenue on these facts.

Conclusion: Separate registration for the coating unit was rightly granted and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The decision affirms that a unit outside the area based exemption, operating from separate premises with segregated plant and machinery, is entitled to separate registration without requiring committee approval under the exemption notification.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a manufacturing unit is found to be in separate premises with independently installed plant and machinery and is not covered by the area based exemption notification, separate excise registration may be granted without committee approval under the notification.

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