TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2002 (4) TMI 402
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....rned Chartered Accountant, submitted that Hexane being inflammable, is required to be stored in underground tanks with connected pipe lines, motors etc.; that for underground storage, RCC base with steel plates of 10 mm thickness is required which have been welded and placed by nuts on the RCC base and thereafter tank has been fabricated piece by piece assembled to iron/steel sheet; that water storage system is created by motors, pipe lines etc.; that crude oil tanks has been constructed on RCC base; that steel sheets have been welded and grouted to the base by nuts and bolts; that all the three systems are not having their own separate identity but a part of the whole system of the solvent extraction and refining plant; that therefore, the....
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....30 lakhs and accordingly the Appellants are eligible for benefit of small scale exemption provided under Notification No. 1/93-C.E., dated 28-2-93; that claim for SSI exemption can be raised at any stage as held by the Appellate Tribunal in the case of Gujarat State Fertilizers Company Ltd. v. Collector of Central Excise, Vadodara - 1996 (83) E.L.T. 159. Finally, he submitted that the demand of Excise duty is time barred since the Appellants had sufficient reasons to assume at the material time that the tanks were not excisable commodity; that it was clarified by the Indore Collectorate under Trade Notice No. 51/89-C.E., dated 5-5-89; that if the piece by piece erection or installation results into a immovable property, no duty would be req....
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....g the bolts. Learned DR also mentioned that the Commissioner has given specific finding that tanks after manufacturer were shifted to specially prepared pits which clearly shows the movable nature of the tanks; that in respect of crude oil storage tanks also the holes were made in extra base plate for placing nuts and bolts. He further mentioned that the extended period of time limit is invocable in the present matter as the Appellants had not disclosed the activity of fabricating the tanks to the Department and they have not maintained statutory records and utilized them without payment of duty. Learned DR also stated that the tanks by themselves cannot be treated as plants so as to be classifiable under Heading 84.19; that the tanks are r....