2015 (10) TMI 2195

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....t on 11/12.09.2006 and Panchnama was prepared, during which shortage of certain finished goods was found. Shri Rajesh R. Patel, Excise Executive and Authorised Signatory of the appellant in his statement dated 12.09.2006 stated that shortages found may be on accounting error with no clandestine intention to evade payment of duty and that he is not able to explain the shortages. It was also submitted that appellant is reversing the duty voluntarily in good faith with a scope to explain the same. 2. Appeal No. E/326/2010 has been filed by the appellant with respect to refund of Rs. 11,40,458/- paid during investigation. The said refund claim was returned to the appellant as premature as per order dated 09.09.2009 of the adjudicating author....

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....o be a confessional statement given by the appellant. 4. Shri S.K. Shukla (AR) appearing on behalf of the Revenue argued that the statement given regarding shortages of finished goods and later explanation given has to be considered as an afterthought. He relied upon the case law of Majestic Auto Limited vs. CCE, Ghaziabad  [2004 (172) ELT 391 (Tri. Del.)]. 5. Heard both sides and perused the case records. The issue involved in the present proceedings is whether the case of clandestine removal can be held to be established on the basis of statement dated 12.09.2006 of Shri Rajesh R. Patel, Excise Executive and Authorised Signatory of the appellant. There is no other corroborative evidence or statement given by any other person to....

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....a verification ought to have been done immediately. Learned AR relied upon the judgment of Majestic Auto Limited vs. CCE, Ghaziabad where the explanation was offered after two months and after physical verification by the department, was held to be inadmissible. In the case relied upon by the AR, the commodity involved was two wheelers, Scooters and Mopeds, and the quantity of which was easily verifiable during stock taking. On the other hand, in the present case, the shortages were alleged to be that of chemicals when the shortage where it was not found admitted but a statement was given that the shortage will be explained later and the same was explained by the appellant during subsequent investigations. In the absence of any other indepe....