2012 (11) TMI 963
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....ls Pvt. Ltd., Sonepat. Some quantity of Aluminium coils/sheets, rods & ingots are claimed to have been received directly from M/s. Aspen Online Pvt. Ltd. and M/s. Padia Industries Ltd., Rohtak. M/s. Avon Tubestech Pvt. Ltd. with Shri Ashwani Mahajan as its Director is the owner of M/s. Avon Dharamkanta which has issued the weighment slips in respect of the Trucks loaded with Aluminium sheets/coils, rods and ingots which are claimed to have been delivered the same at the factory of M/s. Alliance Alloys. M/s. Aspen Online Pvt. Ltd. with Shri Rajash Mahajan and his wife as its Directors is admittedly controlled by these two persons. The total Cenvat credit taken by M/s. Alliance Alloys in respect of Aluminium sheets/ coils, rods and ingots during period from 2005-2005 to 2005-2006 is Rs. 4,46,74,814/-. The allegation against M/s. Alliance Alloys is that the Aluminium sheets, coils, rods and ingots were never used in the manufacture of Aluminium alloy ingots but still cenvat credit of Rs.4,46,74,814/- has been taken in respect of these items, without actually receiving the same, on the basis of bogus cenvatable invoices. It is also alleged that M/s. Avon Dharamkanta owned by M/s. Avon ....
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....Rs.4,46,74,814/- was confirmed against M/s. Alliance Alloys Pvt. Ltd. along with interest and the amount of Rs. 9,45,338/- already paid was appropriated; (b) Penalty of Rs.4,46,74,814/- was imposed on M/s. Alliance Alloys under Rule 1592) under Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 read with Section 11 AC of the Act;,and (c) Penalties were imposed under Rule 26 of the Central Excise Rfules, 2002 on various noticees as under:- (i) Shri Rajesh Mahajan Rs. One Crore (ii) Shri Ashwani Mahajan Rs. 50 Lakhs (iii) M/s.Avon Tubetech Pvt.Ltd. Rs. 5 Lakh (iv) M/s.Padia Industries Rs. 46 Lakhs (v) M/s.Aspen Online Pvt.Ltd. Rs. 11.39 lakhs (vi) M/s.KCGC Goods Carriers Rs. 5 Lakh (vii) M/s.Kanpur Calcutta Goods Carriers Rs. 5 Lakh (viii) M/s.Jan Parivahan Rs. 5 Lakh (ix) M/s.Renukoot Goods Rs. 5 Lakh 4. Against the above order of the Commissioner, these appeals have been filed by M/s. Alliance Alloys Pvt. Ltd., Shri Rajesh Mahajan, Shri Ashwani Mahajan, M/s. Avon Tube Tech and M/s. Aspen Online Pvt. Ltd., along with stay applications. 5. Ld. Shri Bipin Garg, Advocate pressing for the waiver of duty demand, interest and penalty submits that the impugned order is based on unwar....
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....lant without anoreciatine that there could be number of reasons for the delay in the delivery time. It is also submitted that as regards the blank entry in respect of vehicle number found in some of the transshipment documents, ld. Counsel has explained that it could be because of inadvertent mistake on the part of the person, who prepared the transhipment documents. Ld. Counsel submits that the Adjudicating Authority has failed to appreciate that the appellant has made payment for all the consignments as also the payment of freight charges to the suppliers and the transporters. Thus, it cannot be disputed that the appellant did not receive the inputs or did not use those inputs for the manufacture of Aluminium Alloy Ingots. In view of the above, it is submitted that the impugned order has flowed and the appellant has a strong prima facie case to justify the waiver of condition of pre-deposit. 6. Ld. Shri R.K. Verma, Authorised Representative for the Department has argued in support of the impugned order. He has taken us through the record and the impugned order and submitted that the finding of the Adjudicating Authority is based on serious analysis of facts and it cannot be faul....
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.... raw material in the factory of the noticee as per enquiries made from the transporters. Sh. Shekar Budhani, authorized Signatory and Excise Incharge of the noticee in his statement dated 19.06.2006 had, interalia, stated that as and when any raw material/ cenvat input arrived at for unloading at their factory, he always saw the particulars i.e. description of goods, weight vehicle No., consignee's name, Date and time of income challans/ Excise invoices to check whether all the particulars were according to the actual description etc. of the income material; that he also checked the truck number (vehicle's registration No.), to confirm its correctness and that for the last three years whatever material arrived at the factory premises of the noticee, it actually arrived in the same truck/ vehicle of which registration number was mentioned/ written on the income challan/ invoice. However, the investigations by the Central excise Officers have revealed that during the material period of demand, the Dharamkanta slips/ material Inward Register produced/ maintained by the noticee, had shown trucks Nos. CG-12 ZC 1743 and cG 12 9312 and HR-29D 5112 owned by M/s Kanpur Calcutta Goods Carrie....
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....172, CG-12ZC 1106, CG-12ZC 0987, CG 12ZC 1107 & 1106, CG-12 9308, CG-12ZC 0726, CG-15A 1115, CG-12ZC 1743, CG-04 ZC 4128, CG-12ZC 1506 etc. which were shown to have transported the goods from Korba to noticee's factory at Faridabad during the material period of time, never moved out of Chattisgarh State as these did not have Inter-State Permits and were used by the transporters only for local transportation at Korba and the entries of these vehicles as made by the noticee in their records, were fake as admitted by Sh. Gurinder Pal Singh owner of M/s Kanpur Calcutta Goods Carrier and M/s KCGC Carrier Pvt. Ltd. in his voluntary statements dt. 5.5.2006, 25.9.2006, 9.10.2006 & 21.12.2006, by Sh. Manmeet singh, owner of M/s Renukoot Goods Carrier in his statement dt. 10.05.2006 and by sh. Ramashankar Shukla, Manager of M/s Renukoot Goods Carrier in his statements dt. 27.11.2006 & 26.12.2006 recorded under Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944. 4(v) The fact that the entries of vehicles shown to have transported high valued goods from Korba to noticee's factory at Faridabad, were fake is also proved from the fact that the noticee in the Dharmakanta slips had shown different tare we....
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....hown in the list) never came at the weighment platform of their dharma kanta (M/s. Avon Dharamkanta); that the dharma knata slips had been issued falsely; that the bogus knata slips weer issued from the office of M/s. Avon Tube Tech Pvt. Ltd., Fardiabad (Onwer of M/s. Avon Dharamkanta) which were brought to them by Shri N.D. Baweja who was the Dy. Manager (Stores) of M/s Avon Tube Tech Pvt. Ltd. Faridabad and that he had never seen any bill, GR etc. Similarly, Shri Sukhdev Sharma, another Dharma Kanta Operator in his statement dated 22.2.2007 inter alia admitted that the knata slips issued by M/s.Avon Dharamkanta for the vehicle having registration of Chattisgarh State for instance vehicle nos.CG 12 ZC 0172, CG 12 ZC 1106, CG 12ZC 0987, CG-12 ZC 1107, CG- 12 9308, CG 12ZC 0726, CG 15A, 1115, CG-12 GZ, 1743 m CG04 ZC 4128, CG 12ZC 1506, etc. were falsely issued as he never saw those vehicles at their dharamkanta; that the dharamkanta slips issued for truck No. HR29D 5112 (owned by M/s KCGC) were also false because the said vehicle No. HR 29D 5112 was never seen by him at their dharamkanta; that he was shown two charts and the transporters respective records of Korba, Delhi & Bhiwadi....
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....lips, is also proved from the details of the vehicles given in para E l(i) of the show cause notice. As per these details, the noticee had shown receipt of the goods from Korba to Faridabad beyond unreasonable transit period ranging from 13 days to in as much as 34 days, whereas, the transporters i.e. Shri Gurinder Pal Singh, partner of M/s Kanpur Calcutta Goods Carrier (Regd.), New Delhi, whose vehicles were reported to have been used by the noticee for transporting the goods from Korba to Faridabad, in his statement dated 5.5.2006, had, interalia, stated that a vehicle took about 6 to 10 days for transporting the goods from Korba to Faridabad and similarly, Shri Manmeet Singh of M/s Renukoot Goods Carrier, another transporter, in his statement dated 10.5.2006 had, interalia stated that a truck took 7 to 9 days for one trip for one side from Korba to Faridabad and none of the above transporters in their respective statements had reported any break-down of the vehicle had ever happened during transit from Korba to Faridabad in the case of the noticee. Table-A (Transactions shown in respect of M/s. Baico, Korba) RG23 A pt-II Entry No./ Date As per. Balco's nvoices De....
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....sp; (Rajasthan) on 06.05.2005 for Champa. 89 11.05.05 927 30.04.2005 Al.Rod 11845 30.04.2005 HR38J- 0471 11.05.2005 The vehicle HR38J-0471 left Bhiwadi (Rajasthan) on 07.05.2005 for Champa 118 25.05.05 1246 10.05.2005 Al.Rod 111991 10.05.2005 HR29D- 5112 25.05.2005 This vehicle was at Korba on 24.05.2005 147 03.06.05 1150 17.05.2005 Al.Rod 11890 17.05.2005 CG12ZC- 1743 03.06.2005 This vehicle was at Korba on 03.06.2005 156 10.06.05 1910 26.05.2005 Al.Rod 112069 26.05.2005 HR38L- 4561 10.06.2001 This vehicle was at Korba on 09.06.2005 195 27.06.05 2499 08.06.2005 Al.Sheet 112109 08.06.2005 HR38L- 4511 27.06.2005 This vehicle was at Korba on 22.06.2005 205 02.07.05 2507 08.06.2005 Al.Rod 10353 08.06.2005 1-1R29D- 5112 02.07.2005 This vehicle was at Korba on 11.06.2005, 13.06.2005, 15.06.2005, 18.06.2005 & 28.06.2005 206 02.07.05 2736 14.06.2005 Al.Rod 10373 14.06.2005 HR38H- 9961 02.07.2005 This vehicle was at Korba on 02.07.2005 264 28.07.05 3364 27.06.2005 Al.Rod 112178 27.06.2005 CG12ZC- 1743 28.07.2005 This vehicle was at Korba on 28.07.2005 267 28.07.05 3979 11.07.....
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.... that the records regarding Dharamkanta as well as delivery of the consignments at the factory of the appellant were fabricated. 10. From the record, it appears that on 20.02.2006 at the time of raid, Shri Rajesh Mahajan, Director of the appellant company stated that the high value inputs i.e. Aluminium received against 10 invoices detailed in the Table reproduced hereinbefore was still available a the floor shop. However, when the team of Excise Department visited to verify the stock at the floor shop, no such stock of Aluminium was found. When confronted, Shri Rajesh Mahajan could not explain the missing stock and immediately volunteered to debit the cenvat credit attributable to those 10 invoices. This circumstance also prima facie leads to an inference that the appellant company was indulged in availing cenvat credit against false invoices. 11. One of the dealers from whom M/s. Alliance claimed to have purchased Aluminium rods, ingots and sheets during the period of dispute is M/s. Padia Industries Ltd., Rohtak and the goods are claimed to have been transported by M/s. Suraj Transport company. However, Shri Tahir Hussain, Manager of M/s. Suraj Transport in his statement dated....