TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (12) TMI 487
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....ibunal) proposing the following two questions :- 1. Whether the learned Tribunal is right in law in holding that the clandestine manufacture and removal of final product by the assessee company was not proved in view of absence of independent evidence and was right in allowing appeal extending the benefit of doubt to the appellant when the raw material noticed was short of the statutory record which was noticed in presence of independent panch witness? 2. Whether the learned Tribunal is right in allowing the appeal though the raw material which was being noticed as short and the resultant excisable manufacture goods were removed without account, without producing C. Ex. Invoi....
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....t during the course of preventive checks had admitted before the panchas that the raw material to the extent of the shortage noticed was used in the manufacture of various exportable goods and sold out in the open market in April to June, 1996 and had admitted the offence of illicit clearance committed by the assessee. It was submitted that in the light of the aforesaid admission made on behalf of the assessee which statement had not been retracted, the Department was not required to prove clandestine removal inasmuch as the facts stood admitted by the assessee itself. In support of her submission, the learned counsel placed reliance upon the decisions of the Apex Court in the case of Commissioner of C. Ex., Madras v. Systems & Components P....
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....inputs like Polyol and Isocynate were absolutely essential and the same were tallying; the Modvat Credit available on inputs was higher than the Central Excise liability on finished product, as duty on water jugs at the rate of and works out to be Rs. 1,23,464/- and at the rate of 25% Modvat Credit works out to be Rs. 1,29,757.95 ps., hence, the manufacturer would have been benefited if it had availed of Modvat Credit and cleared the goods after proper accounting. It was also submitted that there was no evidence available to substantiate the clandestine clearance. 6. Before the Tribunal, the assessee placed reliance on various decisions of the Tribunal for the proposition that shortage of raw material cannot be made the basis for ra....
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....oceedings, no evidence has been pointed out which corroborates the fact of clandestine manufacture and removal of final products. In the circumstances, on the basis of the material available on record, it is not possible to state that the Tribunal has committed any legal error in giving benefit of doubt to the assessee. 8. The decision of the Apex Court in the case of Commissioner of C. Ex., Madras v. Systems & Components Pvt. Ltd. (supra) does not carry the case of the revenue any further inasmuch as in facts of the said case the Tribunal has held that the Department has not proved that the parts in question were specifically designed for manufacture of Water Chilling Plant in question. The assessee had specifically provided techni....
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....ility is excluded by some of those provisions. If a confession is proved by unimpeachable evidence and if it is of voluntary nature, it when retracted, is entitled to high degree of value as its maker is likely to face the consequences of confession by a statement affecting his life, liberty or property. Burden is on the accused to prove that the statement was obtained by threat, duress or promise like any other person as was held in Bhagwan Singh v. State of Punjab - AIR 1952 SC 214, Para 30. If it is established from the record or circumstances that the confession is shrouded with suspicious features, then it falls in the realm of doubt. The burden of proof on the accused is not as high as on the prosecution. If the accused is able to pro....