Strict proof for electronic records in excise matters: demand cannot rest solely on uncertified computer printouts.

Computer-generated records in central excise proceedings are admissible only if the statutory conditions under section 36B are strictly met. The department's reliance on printouts, hard disks and pen drives failed because the electronic material was not shown to have been produced in the prescribed manner and no section 36B(4) certificate accompanied the printouts. The defect could not be cured by oral evidence where the statute required certification. A demand based solely on such electronic material is therefore unsustainable where the alleged clandestine removal depends entirely on inadmissible records.

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Issues: Whether the demand of central excise duty could be sustained on the basis of computer printouts and other electronic material recovered during search without strict compliance with the evidentiary requirements governing such material under section 36B of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Analysis: The decision turned on the statutory conditions for admissibility of computer-generated material. The electronic records relied upon by the department were not shown to have been produced in the manner required by section 36B(2), and no certificate in terms of section 36B(4) accompanied the printouts. The hard disk and pen drives were not proved as primary evidence, and the adjudicating authority could not cure the defect by itself examining oral evidence on the matters that the statute requires to be certified. Since the demand was founded only on such printouts, the evidentiary basis for the allegation of clandestine removal was vitiated.

Conclusion: The electronic printouts were not admissible in evidence in the absence of compliance with section 36B of the Central Excise Act, 1944, and the demand based solely on such material could not be sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Computer-generated records in central excise proceedings are admissible only when the statutory conditions for secondary electronic evidence and the accompanying certificate are strictly satisfied; otherwise, no demand can rest solely on such material.

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