2012 (3) TMI 248

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.... 2004 (166) ELT 3 SCC and in para 17 & 18 of the said judgment it is observed that, the uniformity in price before and after assessment does not lead to inevitable conclusion that incidence of duty has not been passed on to buyers and that as such uniformity may be due to various factors ? " 2. The assessee is engaged in the activity of producing compounded asafoetida. According to the assessee, the process of producing compounded asafoetida did not amount to manufacturing process and hence excise duty was not payable on clearances of the compounded asafoetida. During the period relevant to the present appeal, that is, during the period from 25/3/1998 to 20/4/2000 the assessee cleared the compounded asafoetida by paying central excise du....

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....nvoices were not showing composite price but assessable value and duty have been shown separately. It was held that when the excise duty has been shown separately in the invoices, it has to be treated that the burden of excise duty has been passed on the customers and hence refund is not admissible. The adjudicating authority further held that though the assessee had kept the sale price constant, the assessee had collected the excise duty from the buyer and the same has been shown as deposit in the balance sheet. Since the assessee had passed on the duty liability to the customers, the adjudicating authority held that the assessee was not entitled to the refund. 6. On appeal filed by the assessee, the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appe....

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....invoices issued while effecting the clearances during the relevant period did contain an endorsement as follows:- "UNDER PROTEST - EXCISE DUTY NOT COLLECTED FROM CUSTOMER EXCISE DUTY PAID UNDER PROTEST." Moreover, in the commercial invoices, the column relating to central excise duty is kept 'blank' meaning thereby that the sale price does not include the central excise duty element. Thus, the commercial invoices clearly indicate that the customers were made known that the central excise duty is borne by the assessee and the same is not passed on to the customers. 9. The claim of the assessee that the upward revision in the prices of the compounded asafoetida cleared during the relevant period was not on account of the inclusion of....