TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2013 (1) TMI 122
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.... that the assessee had manufactured ayurvedic bath soaps with the aid of power and had cleared the goods under the above brand name without payment of duty or complying with other provisions of the Central Excise Rules, though the product was classifiable under sub-heading 3401.19 during the aforesaid period. It was alleged that the product was not classifiable under sub-heading 3401.12 of the said Schedule. It was further alleged that the assessee had suppressed before the Department the use of power for testing the raw materials and finished goods as also for transferring one of the raw material from lorry tankers to storage tankers, with intent to evade payment of duty on the product and therefore, the extended period of limitation prescribed under the proviso to sub-section (i) of Section 11A of the Central Excise Act was invocable for recovery of duty on the clearances in question. On the basis of these and other allegations, the show-cause notice demanded duty of over Rs.4.5 crores from the respondents for the period from August 1999 to April 2001, also demanded interest thereon under Section 11AB of the Act, proposed a penalty under Section 11AC of the Act and also proposed ....
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.... (SC), the Supreme Court held that the assessees activity of lifting water to overhead tank with the aid of electric motors was integrally connected to the ultimate manufacture of their final products. In the case of Collector Vs. Rajasthan State Chemical Works 1991 (55) ELT 444 (SC), the Supreme Court held that, transfer of raw material to the reaction vessels was a preliminary operation and a part of a continuous process without which the manufacture of the product would be impossible and, if power was used for handling such raw material, it was a case of the manufacture having been carried out with the aid of power. In the case of Commissioner Vs. Surya Vinayak Industries Pvt. Ltd. 2010 (258) ELT 513, electric power was found to have been used for drawing water from tube well and lifting it to a high rise water treatment plant. The treated water was filled in a boiler with the help of electric motors and the boiler was used to generate steam required for the process of manufacture of essential oil. In view of these decisions, the unloading of caustic soda lye from tankers with the aid of power should be considered to be an activity integrally connected with the manufacture of so....
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....3401.12 as claimed by the assessee and the demand of duty was set aside vide Final Order No. 1483/2007 dated 11.12.2007 in Appeal No. E/55/2005 (Cholayil Pharmaceuticals Vs. CCE, Puducherry). As the decision was not appealed against by the Department, it can be followed as a precedent in the present case. (c) In any case, the allegation of suppression of facts by the respondent with intent to evade payment of duty on MEDIMIX soap is not sustainable on the facts of this case. The learned Commissioner s finding that nothing was suppressed by the assessee has not been challenged by the Department. Therefore, in any case, the demand of duty raised in the show-cause notice dated 13.6.2003 for the period of dispute is heavily time-barred. 5. The learned counsel for the respondent has also claimed support from a line of decisions while claiming that the Department failed to prove the alleged use of power by the respondent to manufacture MEDIMIX soap during the material period. Several decisions have also been referred to in support of the plea of limitation. 6. We have given careful consideration to the submissions. Insofar as the use of power for brining caustic soda lye to the ....
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....egetable oils or caustic soda lye or the final product with the aid of power during any part of the period of dispute. On the other hand, Shri T.Karthikeyan states that he was not fully trained in analysis of oils and soaps completely and most test were done to gain exposure . He further stated that he did not take much care sending them to QC (quality control). The case of the respondent is that Shri T.Karthikeyan used the above equipments as part of a training programme, which has not been denied by the appellant. Though a statement was recorded from Smt. P. Ponnammal, B.Sc. (Chemistry), Assistant Manager, of the factory, she was not confronted with anything stated by Shri T.Karthikeyan. As a matter of fact, in her statement, Smt. Ponnammal gave an account of how the raw materials were used in the manufacture of MEDIMIX soap. But, nowhere in this statement, is there anything to indicate that any electrically operated equipment was used in the process of manufacture of soap. Smt. Ponnammal was also required to explain quality control checks. She did not mention any electrically operated equipment in this context either. Shri T. Karthikeyan s name does not figure at all in the stat....