TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (5) TMI 444
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....ry premises of the respondent on 19-11-03; they found the RG 1 and raw material register completed only upto 15-9-03. The officers directed Shri Pradeep Agrawal MD of the Company to declare the stock of inputs and finished goods physically lying in the factory premises as on 19-11-03 and apparently he submitted a statement based on other records maintained by them. Physical stock of finished goods namely, MS ingots was ascertained and found to be 39.402 MT which was short by 15.928 MT compared to stock declared by him. The value of the short found goods is Rs. 2,03,926/-. The respondents paid the duty on the short found goods on the very same date. Certain other private records including the records maintained in the form of consumption sli....
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....; private records maintained at the gate indicated unaccounted clearances; the transporter has also corroborated the supply of trucks to the respondents company. Under these circumstances, the order of the original authority confirming the demand of duty and imposition of penalty should be restored by setting aside the order of the Commissioner (Appeals). 4.2 He relies on the decision of the Tribunal in the case of Gulabchand Silk Mills Pvt. Ltd. v. CCE, Hyderabad reported in 2005 (184) E.L.T. 263 and submits that in any type of clandestine activity, the persons tried their best not to leave any evidence, and, therefore such persons cannot be expected to faithfully put the details of all such clearances in some register and append ....
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.... to such documents". The adjudicating authority has not made available Shri Ganguly for cross examination. 5.2He relies on the following decisions in support of his submissions : (1) Commissioner of Central Excise, Meerut v. Raman Ispat (P) Ltd. - 2000 (121) E.L.T. 46 (Tri.); (2) Commissioner of Central Excise, Chandigarh v. Laxmi Engg.Works - 2001 (134) E.L.T. 811 (Tri.-Del.); (3) Oudh Sugar Mills Ltd. v. Union of India - 1978 (2) E.L.T. (J 172) (S.C.); (4) Commissioner of Central Excise, Surat v. Tulsi Polymers Pvt. Ltd. - 2009 (247) E.L.T. 223 (Tri.-Ahmd.). 6.1 I have carefully considered the submissions from both sides....
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....hich were not covered by invoices were taken from the private records including the records maintained at the gate. The submissions of respondents that they did not authorise the security in-charge to maintain records relating to movement of vehicles in or out of factory deserves to be ignored. Any security agency is definitely concerned about the movement of persons as well as of vehicles and the goods coming in and out of the premises. As the security was supposed to check entry and exit of vehicles in and out of the premises, the claim that the security in-charge was not directly employed by the respondents does not diminish reliability of the records maintained by them as the records were maintained by an independent agency in their day....
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....as been offered for such shortage either in reply to the notice or thereafter. Such a shortage found on the date of visit and private records indicating excess issue of raw materials, production in excess of what is accounted in the statutory records and private records indicating clearances or movement of goods are sufficiently corroborative of each other. 7. Under these circumstances, the confirmation of demand of duty by the original authority was justified. The original authority has elaborately discussed the evidence with reference to daily entry reports which inter alia mention the material received, net weight of the goods and the time of arrival of the vehicle. He has also discussed the entries relating to productions of in....