https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=782073 CESTAT Ahmedabad set aside the excise demands and penalties against the appellant tile and sanitaryware manufacturers, holding that the allegation of clandestine manufacture and removal was not proved. The Tribunal found the investigation to be slipshod and based almost entirely on uncorroborated third-party statements of shroffs, brokers and buyers, without supporting evidence such as excess stock, raw material consumption, transport documents, cash seizure or buyer-side discrepancies. Non-compliance with Section 9D regarding examination and cross-examination of witnesses further weakened the evidentiary value of the statements. Applying the standard of preponderance of probability, CESTAT held that mere suspicion and presumptions cannot substitute cogent, credible evidence, and therefore the charge of clandestine removal failed. All demands and connected penalties were quashed and the appeals were allowed. en-us Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0530 Thu, 04 Dec 2025 13:02:42 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=782073 CESTAT Ahmedabad set aside the excise demands and penalties against the appellant tile and sanitaryware manufacturers, holding that the allegation of clandestine manufacture and removal was not proved. The Tribunal found the investigation to be slipshod and based almost entirely on uncorroborated third-party statements of shroffs, brokers and buyers, without supporting evidence such as excess stock, raw material consumption, transport documents, cash seizure or buyer-side discrepancies. Non-compliance with Section 9D regarding examination and cross-examination of witnesses further weakened the evidentiary value of the statements. Applying the standard of preponderance of probability, CESTAT held that mere suspicion and presumptions cannot substitute cogent, credible evidence, and therefore the charge of clandestine removal failed. All demands and connected penalties were quashed and the appeals were allowed. Case-Laws Central Excise Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=782073