1996 (10) TMI 236

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....s in regard to air conditioners manufactured and sold by the appellant and imposed penalty of Rs. 80,000/- on the appellant. This order is now challenged. 2. Appellant and M/s. Parikh Associates and proprietary concerns, the proprietors being the husband and wife respectively. M/s. Parikh Associates was set up in 1974 as a trading concern. During some period the concern was also engaged in assembling window air conditioning units. Appellant concern was set up in 1982 for manufacture of window air conditioning units. During the two years in question appellant cleared 62 & 15 units respectively on payment of excise duty on the value declared without disclosing that service of most of units were being attended to by M/s. Parikh Associa....

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..... See decisions in UOI v. Bombay Tyre International case - 1983 (14) E.L.T. 1896 (S.C.) and Collector of Customs v. Kelvinator India Ltd. - 1988 (36) E.L.T. 517. 5. The conclusion of the Additional Collector is based on his finding that husband and wife are related persons and the two concerns are managed by related persons. Husband and wife naturally are related in the general sense of the expression, by marriage. That does not mean that they are "related persons" within the ambit of definition in Section 4(4)(c) of the Central Excise Act, 1944. In order that the two concerns should attract the definition it must be shown that M/s. Parikh Associates was so associated with the assessee that they had interest directly or indirectly i....

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....ciates rendered service to 55 and 13 units respectively. There is neither an allegation nor any material to show that this was the consequence of the obligatory service undertaken by the appellant or obligatory service imposed on the customers. On the basis of the material before us and without anything more it is not possible to hold that the service rendered by M/s. Parikh Associates was compulsory and not optional. Going by the statistics it appears to be optional and not compulsory. 7. It is contended on behalf of the Department that it is normal trade practice for the manufacturers of the A.C. Units to offer service or guarantee to the customers and is unlikely that the customers should buy A.C. Units without assuring themselve....