1995 (3) TMI 260

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....rs found a certain number of video cassettes with names of various Hindi films. Some of the cassettes had labels with the name 'Super'. The officers also found that there was a room in the factory equipped with video cassettes recording. The officers recorded the statement of Shri Suresh Chand, an employee. He stated that the factory contained 48 video cassette recorders on which video cassettes were being recorded, and the pre-recorded cassettes were despatched outside the factory. A statement to the same effect was also given by another employee, Km. Aneeta Goyal. The officers seized 204 pre-recorded cassettes - 132 cassettes on which recording had been erased and 59 blank cassettes. In the course of investigation, the officers searched t....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....4 of the Central Excise Rules provides that, if no reply is received within 60 days of the application for licence, it is deemed to have been granted. However, he emphasised that recording was done only to test the 48 video cassette recorders which the appellant had purchased. The appellant was also apprehensive of action for breach of trust and violation of contract by film-makers with whom it had entered into contracts for recording cassettes. He emphasised that no pre-recorded cassette had been cleared by the firm. The 204 pre-recorded cassettes lying in the factory were not ready for sale and finishing work was to be done on them. Fifty-nine cassettes had not been entered in the RG 1 register because they were the previous day's product....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....ot appear. Since Shri Sachhar was a co-noticee, the Additional Collector's action in not summoning him is correct in law; she has further made it clear that should Shri Balinder Singh Sachhar wish to be cross-examined by the appellant, he was at liberty to appear for that purpose. The appellant does not dispute any of these facts. In these circumstances, it cannot be said that the appellant was not given an opportunity to question Shri Balinder Singh Sachhar recording his statement. There has, therefore, been no failure of natural justice on this account. 5. We also do not agree whether the fact that U-Matic cassettes were not found establishes conclusively that the appellant could not have manufactured pre-recorded cassettes. We agree t....