TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2011 (1) TMI 521
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....putedly, an amount of Rs. 1 crore had already been desposited and appropriated towards the amount due under the impugned order. 3. The appellants are engaged in the manufacture of Agricultural Tractors of engine capacity not exceeding 1800 CC as well as those of 1800 CC and above, both classifiable under Chapter Heading 87.01 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. The appellants had also been manufacturing IC engines of replacement capacity below 1800 CC classifiable under Chapter 84 of the said Tariff Act and the said IC engines had been used in the manufacture of agricultural tractors having engine capacity below 1800 CC which were exempted from payment of excise duty in terms of Notification No. 162/86 dated 1st March, 1986. The a....
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....s by its order dated 13th March, 2002 to deposit an amount of Rs. 1 crore as pre-deposit for the purpose of hearing of the appeal. On account of failure to comply with the said direction, the appeal was dismissed by order dated 27th May, 2002. The matter was brought before the Tribunal and the Tribunal by its order dated 17th October, 2002 held that Rs. 1 crore debited by the assessee in their RG 23A Part II should be accepted as compliance of the requirement of deposit of Rs. 1 crore and appeal should be disposed of by the Commissioner (Appeals) on merits. Accordingly, the Commissioner (Appeals) by order dated 30th April, 2004, disposed of the appeal on merits while upholding the order in original. 4. Being aggrieved, the appellants ....
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....are used in the manufacture of IC engines is remanded to Adjudicating Authority and Adjudicating Authority will decide afresh after affording an opportunity of hearing to the appellants and the appellants will produce evidence in support of their claim." 5. The said order was passed on 14th October 2005. Consequently, the matter came to be disposed of by the adjudicating authority by order dated 31st July, 2008. The order of the adjudicating authority in para 28 in particular, specifically refers to various opportunities given to the appellants to produce the documentary evidence. Para 32 thereof specifically refers to various documents, which were required to be produced by the appellants to justify their claim. Para 33 records failu....
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....of those invoices provided the appellant deposit the amount demanded under the impugned order. 9. It is sought to be contended on behalf of the appellant that invoices could not be produced prior to the date of written submissions as they were voluminous in number and could not have been produced without ascertaining the relevant invoices which related to the engines used in the manufacture of exempted tractors. 10. The DR has also drawn our attention to the finding by the adjudicating authority to the effect that the factual position is that the relevant purchase invoices for the period of demand were not available with the appellants and that it was admitted by the appellants in the appeal though it was not disclosed to the Tr....
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....eir claim. In other words, apart from Tribunal itself, Commissioner also alerted the appellants about the requirement and obligation to produce the documents in support of their claim, and even the adjudicating authority specifically listed the documents which were required to be produced by the appellants to establish their claim and afforded enough opportunity to produce the same. However, apart from producing sample invoices, the appellants did not produce copies of all the invoices. The contention at the second appellate stage that authorities could have verified the documents in possession with the appellants is totally devoid of substance when the appellants themselves failed to comply with their obligation to produce the necessary re....
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....with the case that the department can very well verify the invoices available with the appellants. It is also pertinent to note that such a statement is conspicuously absent in the memo of appeal. There is no statement of fact made on oath that all such invoices are available with the appellants. In the above circumstances, therefore, at this stage, it is difficult to accept the contention about the failure of the lower authority in the matter of verification of records to ascertain the claim of the appellants or any lapse on its part in complying with the directions given by the Tribunal in its earlier order. On the contrary, the orders passed by the authorities below disclose detailed analysis of the claim of the appellants as well as wha....