TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2011 (2) TMI 622
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....icating authority in his order confirmed the duty demand of Rs. 1,28,621/-, imposed equal amount of penalty under Section 11AC of Central Excise Act, 1944, ordered recovery of interest and also imposed penalty of Rs. 5,000/- under Rule 27 of Central Excise Rules, 2002. The appeal filed by the appellant was rejected in the impugned order and hence the appellant is before us. 2. On merit of the classification proposed by the Revenue, it was submitted by the learned Counsel for the appellant that the articles produced by the appellant are not at all classifiable under CETH 48.20. He drew our attention to the relevant chapter heading, chapter note of Chapter 48.20 as well as CETH 49.11 and submitted that the goods are clearly covered by CETH 49.11 only. He submits that all the products are printed articles and it is not correct to call them as manufactured and cleared. He explained each and every document and submitted that in all documents, printing was essential and view taken by the original adjudicating authority that these are in the nature of forms and they are required to be filled in and therefore they come under Chapter 48.20, is not correct. He also submitted that onl....
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....ples or for collections Kg. 16% 4820 90 Other Kg. 16% 4820 90 10 Blotting papers cut to size Kg. 16% 4820 90 90 Other Kg. 16% 4911 Other Printed matter, including printed pictures and photographs 4911 10 Trade advertising material, commercial catalogues and the like : Kg. Nil 4911 10 10 Posters, printed Kg. Nil 4911 10 20 Commercial catalogues Kg. Nil 4911 10 30 Printed inlay crds Kg. Nil 4911 10 90 Other Kg. Nil Other : Kg. Nil 4911 91 00 Pictures, designs and photographs Kg. Nil 4911 99 Other : Kg. Nil 4911 99 10 Hard copy (printed) of computer software Kg. Nil 4911 99 20 Plan and drawings for architectural engineering, industrial, commercial, topographical or similar purposes reproduced with the aid of computer or any other devices Kg. Nil 5. Chapter notes relating to CH 48.20 reads as under : (1) Registers, account books, note books of all Kinds, order books, receipt books, copy books, diaries, letter pads, memorandum pads, engagement books, addre....
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....8 (see particularly the Explanatory Notes to headings 48.17 and 48.20). The heading includes the following in addition to the more obvious products : (1) Advertising matter (including posters), year books and similar publications devoted essentially to advertising, trade catalogues of all kinds (including book or music publishers' lists, and catalogues of works of art) and tourist propaganda. Newspapers, periodicals and journals, whether or not containing advertising material, are however excluded (heading 49.01, 49.02 as appropriate). (2) Brochure containing the programme of a circus, sporting event, opera, play or similar presentation. (3) Printed calendar backs with or without illustrations. (4) Schematic maps. (5) A national, botanical, etc., instrumental charts and diagrams. (6) Cinema, theatre, concert, railway and other tickets. (7) Window transparencies, other than those printed merely with decorative designs (see the Explanatory Note to heading 48.14). (8) M....
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....s of heading 39.18, 39.19, 48.14 or 48.21 are also excluded from this Chapter, even if they are printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations, which are not merely incidental to the primary use of the goods. For the purpose of this Chapter, the term "printed" includes not only reproduction by the several methods of ordinary hand printing (e.g. prints from engravings or woodcuts, other than originals) or mechanical printing (letterpress, offset printing, lithography, photogravure, etc.), but also reproduction by duplicating machines, production under the control of a computer, embossing, photography, photocopying thermo-copying or typewriting (see Note 2 to this Chapter), irrespective of the form of the characters in which the printing is executed (e.g. letters of any alphabet, figures, shorthand signs, Morse or other code symbols. Braille characters, musical notations, pictures, diagrams. The term does not, however, include coloration or decorative or repetitive-design printing. The Chapter also includes similar products executed by hand (including hand-drawn maps and plans), as well as carbon copies of hand-written or type-written texts. In general, the goo....
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....siderable amount of printed matter but are classifiable under this heading provided that articles are essentially for completion in manuscript or type-script." From this sentence, it becomes clear that it is not a question as to how much printed matter is available, but what is relevant is nature of the product. If the articles are essentially for completion in manuscript or type-script, the product would be classifiable in CETH 48.20 only. This is further confirmed by Chapter under Chapter 49. Under Chapter 49, note provides that wherever printing is merely incidental to their primary use, the product falls under Chapter 48. In fact, in the Chapter Note under Chapter 49, it is clearly provided that the printed stationery would fall in Chapter 48. The fact that Chapter 49, according to Chapter notes covers greeting cards, post ; cards, calendars or maps would show that what is required to be seen is the use of product and the purpose of printing on the product. If the nature of the use is as a stationery and the purpose of printing is to facilitate use as stationery, the product would fall under CETH 48.20 only. In fact, it is also provided that certain articles may be intended for....
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.... 11AC of Central Excise Act, 1944 is imposable on the ground of suppression/mis-declaration. In this case, in the show cause notice, the suppression was alleged in Para 6 as under : "6. In view of the above facts and circumstances, it appears that the said assessee have manufactured and cleared printed articles and materials falling under Chapter 48 & 49 of the First Schedule to Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 valued at Rs. 18,53,303/- during the period from 1-3-06 to 21-9-07 involving Central Excise duty of Rs. 1,28,621/- (BED Rs. 1,25,981/- + EC Rs. 2,520/- + Higher Education Cess Rs. 120/-) as mentioned in Annexure A to the statement of Mudresh Purohit, Proprietor of the said unit without obtaining Central Excise registration, without following proper Central Excise procedures, without issuing Central Excise invoices, without filing ER 1/3 returns with the jurisdictional Range office, without payment of Central Excise duty leviable thereon and thus contravened the provisions of (i) Rules 4, 5 and 6 of Central Excise Rules, 2002 inasmuch as they have failed to determine/discharge/debit the Central Excise duty on the goods i.e. printing articles and materials removed under....
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....n of extended period, in Para 7.4 which is reproduced below : "7.4 I find that the appellant failed to obtain Central Excise registration, failed to determine/discharge duty liability and failed to pay the Central Excise duty and not observed the procedure under Central Excise Rules, 2002 by way of willful mis-statement, suppression of facts with intent to evade payment of Central Excise. Therefore, the duty involved in the clearance of above said period is required to be recovered under Section 11A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Rule 25 of Central Excise Rules, 2002, along with interest under Section 11AB at appropriate rate and also penalty under Section 11AC of Central Excise Act, 1944 is imposable on the appellant." 15. It may be seen from the above that the show cause notice presumed that contravention of rules and the provisions of law is sufficient to support invocation of extended period and no other evidence is required. Further, the original adjudicating authority has reproduced the paragraph of show cause notice and for him "it appears to be a case of suppression/misdeclaration." The Commissioner (Appeals) has affirmed the suppression but witho....