https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=126542 Section 11AC was treated as mandating a penalty equal to the duty confirmed where clandestine removal is established, leaving no adjudicatory discretion to impose a lesser penalty. The Tribunal therefore applied the mandatory penalty principle and aligned the penalty with the duty demand. At the same time, the first and second provisos to Section 11AC were given effect by preserving the assessee's statutory option to pay a reduced penalty of 25% if duty, interest, and the reduced penalty were paid within thirty days of communication of the order. The earlier denial of that option did not extinguish the statutory benefit where the provisos remained available. en-us Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0530 Wed, 21 Nov 2012 18:50:55 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=126542 Section 11AC was treated as mandating a penalty equal to the duty confirmed where clandestine removal is established, leaving no adjudicatory discretion to impose a lesser penalty. The Tribunal therefore applied the mandatory penalty principle and aligned the penalty with the duty demand. At the same time, the first and second provisos to Section 11AC were given effect by preserving the assessee's statutory option to pay a reduced penalty of 25% if duty, interest, and the reduced penalty were paid within thirty days of communication of the order. The earlier denial of that option did not extinguish the statutory benefit where the provisos remained available. Case-Laws Central Excise Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=126542