2000 (5) TMI 318

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....i Sanjeev Srivastava, JDR, for the Respondent. [Order per : C.N.B. Nair, Member (T)]. - The appellant is a manufacturer of Air Conditioners and Ice Cubic machines in the small scale sector. The impugned order has denied the benefit of exemption under Notification No. 73/87 of 1987 to the goods manufactured by the appellants on the ground that the goods manufactured by them were under the bra....

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....ated to a period between 1989-1992 and the notice was issued well beyond the normal period of six months contemplated in Section 11A of the Central Excise Act. The ld. Counsel also submitted that the issue as to whether the use of brand name of a foreign manufacturer would make the Indian small scale industry ineligible for exemption is a much disputed issue and the assessees were under the bona f....

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....aried from factory to factory. In view of this, we find it not possible to accept the appellants' claim that with regard to the unit at Gwalior, the appellant had no intention to evade payment of duty. If ignorance of law or misunderstanding of law was the reason for non-payment of duty, such ignorance and misunderstanding would not be localised and the assessee's conduct would have been consisten....

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....lly unlikely that these clearances could have been in respect of air-conditioners as, according to the show cause notice itself, air-conditioners were costing from Rs. 16,000/- to Rs. 25,000/- per piece and not Rs. 6,000/-. Ld. Counsel also submits that the "file" relied upon in the show cause notice for making this demand had not been made available to the appellant during adjudication and, there....