2016 (5) TMI 420
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....is prayed that profit arrived from Audited Books of Accounts may please be accepted. 3. The learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal) erred in confirming the addition estimating 4% Gross Profit on the suppressed Sales estimated by the A.O. which is not based on the facts and he has purely estimated the Sales on assumption / presumption basis. Suppressed sales are calculated deciding quantum of production taking the base of electricity consumption. 4. Clandestine removal of finished product was established by the excise department in their search, no incrementing document or stock was found to the excise department, only on the basis of electricity consumption Clandestine sales are calculated by excise department and as such the addition made by the A.O. is not legally sustainable. 5. Appellant craves to add, alter, amend, delete the grounds of appeal and to raise additional grounds of appeal or to withdraw any grounds of appeal. 3. The Revenue in ITA No.2037/PN/2014 has raised the following grounds of appeal:- 1. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in quantifying the suppressed production @4% ev....
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....5.07.2015. The identical issue of estimation of income in the hands of assessee on account of alleged suppression of production on account of variation in consumption of electricity arose vide bunch of appeals decided by the Tribunal of both furnace cases and Re-Rolling Mills. The Tribunal in the case of Shree Om Rolling Mills Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Addl. CIT in ITA Nos.125 & 127/PN/2012, relating to assessment years 2007-08 & 2008-09 i.e. appeals filed by the assessee and ITA Nos.430 & 431/PN/2012, relating to assessment years 2007-08 & 2008-09 i.e. appeals filed by the Revenue & other appeals, had decided the similar issue vide consolidated order dated 15.07.2015 and held as under:- "54. The next issue is the working of the suppressed production and the application of GP rate of 4% on such suppressed production and third is the working capital required for investment in such suppressed production. We find that similar issue of addition on account suppressed production on account of erratic consumption of electricity arose before the Tribunal in the case of SRJ Peety Steel Pvt. Ltd. (supra). Though both the parties have raised their arguments in favour of/against the order of the ....
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.... cases, such offer of additional income was before the Excise authorities, who in turn, accepted the same. The Assessing Officer in the case of Rolling Mills i.e. in the hands of the assessee before us was of the view that because of erratic consumption of electricity, in turn, relying on the data of consumption of electricity as per US standards, came to the conclusion that there was suppression of production by the TMT Bars manufacturers in Jalna cluster on the ground of variance in consumption of electricity versus production. The Assessing Officer also referred to the data collected in the cases of furnace owners i.e. M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd. and others and relying on the addition made in the hands of M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd. (supra), in turn, on the basis of the order of CCE, Aurangabad, made additions in the hands of present set of assesses before us. 56. The Tribunal had elaborately considered all the aspects of addition in the hands of the furnace owners i.e. M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd., on the basis of erratic consumption of electricity, which in turn, was the basis for making the additions in the hands of the assessee therein by CCE, Aurangabad ....
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.... to 22 and the rejoinder of the assessee in paras 12 to 12.1 at pages 22 to 24 of the order, the Tribunal observed as under:- "13. We have heard the rival submissions of the parties and perused the record. Ld. AR for the assessee filed argument synopsis and Ld. Spl. AR for the Revenue also has filed notes of his argument on 05-11-2014 which are placed on record. We have also considered all the precedents and decisions relied on by both the Parties. The assessee is manufacturer of Ingots/Billets. So far as A.Y. 2007 -08 is concerned the original assessment of the assessee was completed u/s. 143(3) of the Act on 31-12-2009. While completing the assessment u/s. 143(3) of the Act, in the opinion of the Assessing Officer the electricity consumption shown by the assessee was at higher side as compared to the quantum of production declared by the assessee. The Assessing Officer, therefore, made the addition on the basis of the alleged suppression of the production/sales by the assessee as in his opinion the assessee should have declared or shown more production of the Ingot/Billets. Subsequently, on the basis of the information received from the office of the CCE, Aurangabad vide....
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....s after the assessments in consequence of search and seizure action u/s. 132(1) of the Act were completed. 15. It is also to be taken note of the fact that even for the A.Ys. 2007-08 and 2008-09, no independent investigation or any enquiry is made by the Assessing Officer or any other Income Tax Authorities. In the assessment order the Assessing Officer has placed his reliance only on the information received from the Central Excise Authorities and the proceeding before the Settlement Commission of Central Excise & Custom, Mumbai. The investigation was carried out by Central Excise Authorities i.e. DGCEI, against few brokers/sub-brokers and those brokers gave the names of many companies who are in the manufacturing of Ingot/Billets and TMT Bars. As per the statement given before the Central Excise Authorities by those brokers as well as sub-brokers namely Shri Umesh Modi, Mumbai, Shri Anil D Lingade, Shri Mukesh Gupta it was admitted that they were involved in clearing the consignments from the factory on weighment slips only and no excise duty was paid and they were involved in providing fake trading bills and challans which accompanied the vehicles carrying those consign....
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.... production was much more lower, has given the examples or reference of some other manufacturers against whom action taken by the Central Excise authorities. As observed by the Assessing Officer as per an article written by Shri R.P. Varshney, Executive Director, All India Induction Furnaces Association, New Delhi on "Electric Steel Making technology in the 21st Century" which is available on the internet which is on the Electric Induction Furnace and as per the said article the power consumption in Induction Furnace is between 650 to 820 units per MT depending upon the input charge used. The Assessing Officer also referred to the Technical report of the IIT, which states that electricity requirement for manufacturing 1 MT of M.S. Ingots where melting scrap is used as an input, varies from 555 to 754 units and where "Sponge Iron" is used as an input, the electricity requirement varies from 815 to 1046 units. The Assessing Officer, therefore, came to the conclusion that the assessment framed by the Commissioner of Central Excise and Custom, Aurangabad in respect of the alleged suppression of production after considering the electricity consumption declared by the assessee and the pr....
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....eport of Dr. N.K. Batra, Professor of IIT, Kanpur. The Third Member of CESTAT in group of cases of furnace owners held that the order of CCE, Aurangabad was not sustainable and had to be cancelled in turn, relying on the ratio laid down in R.A. Casting (supra). The relevant finding of the Tribunal in turn, incorporating the order of Third Member of CESTAT in paras 19 to 19.4, which read as under: - "19. In sum and substance in both the assessment years the Assessing Officer has determined alleged suppression of the production/sales as determined the Commissioner of Central Excise and Custom, Aurangabad on the basis of power consumption. The copy of the adjudication order passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise and Custom and Service Tax, Aurangabad dated 28 -08-2009 (in short referred to as the "CCE") in the case of the assessee is placed at Page Nos. 122 to 174 of the P/B-I. The CCE, Aurangabad has observed that during the scrutiny of electricity bills, it was noticed that the substantial amount of expenditure has incurred by the assessee towards the cost of power consumption (Primary input). He has further observed that from the scrutiny of the various records, the ....
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....on and admitted the evasion and paid the excise duty and obtained immunity from criminal proceedings. The Ld. Commissioner confirmed the demand raised in the show cause notice and also levied the penalty to the extent of Rs. 33,07,22,069/-. 19.2 The said order of the Ld. Commissioner was challenged before the CESTAT by filing the appeal u/s. 35B(a) of the Central Excise Act, 1944. There was a difference of the opinion between the Ld. Members of the CESTAT, i.e. Ld. Vice -President and Ld. Technical Member and the matter was referred to the Ld. Third Member to resolve the following differences: a. Whether in view of the discussion in Para 1 to 31 and in view of the decision of the Tribunal in the case of R.A. Castings Pvt. Ltd. (supra) the impugned orders are to be set aside and the appeal allowed. b. Whether in view of the discussion in Para 32 to 68 above and in view of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's judgment in the case of Triveni Rubber & Plastics (supra) and this Tribunal's decision in the case of Rattan Steels Works (supra), Nagpal Steel (supra) and Hans Castings Pvt. Ltd. (supra), the impugned order are to be upheld and all the appeals dismissed. ....
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....di, Gobindgarh given in June-July, 2006; (iv). 650 units to 820 units/MT as per the Executive Director, All India Induction Furnace Association, New Delhi (Mr. Varshney); (v). 851 units/MT in the case of Nagpal Steel v. CCE, Chandigarh reported in 2000 (125) E.LT. 1147, 20.3 After perusal of these reports, Tribunal opined that wide variations in the consumption electricity have been reported for the manufacture of one MT of steel ingot&, and that this renders the norm of 1046 units adopted by the Revenue as arbitrary. After this finding, which is upheld by the Hon'ble Allahabad High Court and even SLP has been dismissed, there was no reason for the Commissioner in the instant cases to consider the norm of 1026 units allegedly as per report of Dr. Batra, for arriving at deemed production. Moreover, the trial run conducted by the department had proved that at that time power consumption was actually higher than that reported in Dr. Batra's report. 20.4 It is also seen that the allegations levelled in R,A, Casting (supra) were mainly- (i). Inordinately high electricity consumption without any explanation, (ii). Sale of Ingo....
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....he proceedings already settled are concerned, the Commissioner is hot relying on the same and the findings of the Commissioner, as recorded earlier, have not been challenged by the Revenue. All these other allegations were also levelled in R.A. Casting (supra). It was further observed in R.A, Casting (supra) that it would be appropriate on the part of the Revenue to conduct experiments in the factory of the appellants and others and that too on different dates to adopt-the test results as the basis to arrive at a norm, which can be adopted for future. It was further held that- "23. The Tribunal has consistently taken the view that wherever electricity consumption alone is adopted as the basis to raise demands, the order of the lower authorities have been held to be unsustainable in law and set aside* and the Revenue had been directed to carry out experiments in different factories on different dates to arrive at the average to be adopted as a norm, which can be followed thereafter and the Revenue in the present case not having conducted any experiment whatsoever cannot be permitted to justify the demands raised. It will be appropriate on the part of the Revenue to conduct ....
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....to passing of impugned Orders the power consumption for manufacturing one MT of Ingots has reduced in factories of all the appellants, I am of the view that it cannot be-.a" basis to sustain the findings in the impugned Orders by assuming that there could not be any reason for lower consumption of electricity during the subsequent period. I also agree with the finding of the Hon'ble Vice President that in. any event, this additional material is also only of power consumption. 22. In written submissions of Revenue, it has also been contended that Report of JPC suggesting electricity consumption upto 1800 its PMT was for electric arc furnace and not induction- furnace. However, the appellant has contended that productivity in. electric arc furnace is higher than induction furnace. In any event, in the Impugned Orders, there is no such reason to discard the report and in any event the letter of Mr. R.P. Varshney suggesting that electric consumption in induction furnace can be upto 1800 units per MT is also on record. Since, varying reports are on record, the ratio of R.A. Casting (sura) is squarely applicable. 23. Revenue, also relied On the judgment of the Hon&#....
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....he copy of the majority order is placed at Page Nos. 5 and 6 of the P/B - VI. It is pertinent to note here that the Ld. Commissioner has also considered the investigation made by the DGCEI against some brokers and in consequence the show cause notices (SCN) were issued to the assessee and other companies and the assessee and other companies came forward before the Settlement Commission and paid the excise duty. Hence, the investigation of the DGCEI made against the brokers and subbrokers referred by the Assessing Officer was also before the Ld. Commissioner, Aurangabad. On perusal of the assessment orders it is clear that both the assessments are merely based on the alleged suppression of the production by estimating certain consumption of electricity i.e. 1026 Units for manufacturing of 1 MT of Ingots and Billets. Moreover, even if in the A.Y. 2008 -09, the Assessing Officer has observed that the information received from the Central Excise Authorities has no bearing in the said order but on the perusal of the said order, it is seen that entire order is copy of order passed for the A.Y. 2007-08. As vary basis of the assessment order i.e. the order of the Commissioner of Central Ex....
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....bunal thereafter, noted another aspect of the issue that no independent investigation was made by the Revenue, but the entire assessment was framed on the basis of information received from the Central Excise Department as well as the adjudication order passed by the CCE, Aurangabad, which in turn, had been cancelled by the Third Member of CESTAT. The Tribunal thus, held that the foundation for assessment does not exist. It was also noted by the Tribunal in para 21 that the investigation by the DGCEI and proceedings before the Settlement Commission were considered by the CCE in its adjudication order, which in turn, was the subject matter of CESTAT and the said order has been set -aside, hence, it was not necessary to deal with the decisions relied upon by the Ld. Special AR, which are in the context of admission of the Director in the course of investigation made by the DGCEI. 62. The second issue of maintaining of Form No.G-7 in respect of electricity consumption, was also before the CESTAT and the Tribunal overruled the arguments of the Ld. Special AR and upheld the arguments of learned Authorized Representative for the assessee that the order of CESTAT had to be applie....
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.... observation whether that order was right or wrong. 64. The Tribunal further referred to search and seizure operations carried out under section 132(1) of the Act on 17.03.2006 against M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd. and the assessment framed under section 153A r.w.s. 143(3) of the Act. The assessee therein i.e. M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd. had filed an appeal before the Tribunal and the order of the Tribunal is reported in 137 TTJ (Pune) 627. The Tribunal in M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd. (supra) referred to the observations of Tribunal in earlier proceedings relating to assessment years 2000-01 to 2006-07 under section 153A r.w.s 143(3) of the Act and held that in the said case of search and seizure, it was also held that the consumption of electricity for the manufacture of mild steel, ingots / billets depending on various factors and there was no justification to charge the assessee that it had suppressed the production and indulged into unaccounted production. The order of the Tribunal was challenged by the Department before the Hon'ble Bombay High Court and the Revenue's appeal was dismissed by common order dated 10.02.2014 in the case of assessee and other compa....
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....r's report of each year. The same has not been disputed by the Revenue. The tax audit report also contained the unit production of each year which were accepted year after year along with the returns and no query was ever raised by the Department. The following chart shows the year-wise production vis-a-vis electricity consumption which has been placed before the authorities below along with the returns for each year: Asst. yr. Electricity consumption Production (MT) Yearly average consumption (units) 2000-01 24331059 18,524.239 1313 2001-02 25528565 17,010.558 1501 2002-03 31404354 19,709.654 1593 2003-04 31623843 20,396.313 1550 2004-05 43123824 23,240.189 1856 2005-06 62650888 29,582.434 2118 2006-07 70440580 36,017.983 1956 32. The matter of fluctuating consumption of electricity can by no means be said to be a finding of search since all details regarding electricity vis-a-vis production were before the Department. If the Department had any doubts regarding the same, it could have been raised during the regular assessments and not in the assessment proceedings und....
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.... justified in absence of sound basis for same. 36. The consumption of the electricity for the manufacture of mild steel ingots/billets depends on various factors like quality of raw material which is the major input, voltage of the supply, power interruptions, mechanical and electrical breakdowns and the chemical composition of the liquid metal which has to be finally cast into ingots/billets. The AO failed to appreciate these facts and did not attempt to establish a direct nexus between the production and electricity consumed for the manufacture of round/TMT bars and arrived at a conclusion that there is an excess consumption of electricity resulting in suppressed production and alleging that the assessee company has indulged in unaccounted production. 37. None of the evidence collected as a result of search or detected during the course of assessment pertains to the asst. yrs. 2000-01 to 2005-06. It is an accepted fact that each year of the assessment is independent and evidences found relating to asst. yr. 2006-07 cannot have an adverse impact on the assessments of the assessee company from the asst. yrs. 2000-01 to 2005-06. Therefore, rejection of books for th....
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....t, which could have been raised during the course of regular assessment and not u/s. 153A of the Act. The finding is that nothing incriminating was found in the course of search relating to these assessment years. The additions, therefore, were not corresponding to the seized material during the course of search. The relevant income tax returns, in normal course, are disclosing the particulars. They were already on record. The returns have been accepted. In such circumstances, the Tribunal, as also, the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) have in their orders, held that there are several factors which have to be taken into consideration and while arriving at a conclusion with regard to the alleged production calculated on the basis of electricity consumption. Rejection of books for these years only on the ground that there has been divergence in the consumption of electricity, therefore, was held not justified." 24. Ld. Spl. AR for the Revenue argues that the said observations are made in the context of the assessment framed in consequence of search and seizure operation. We are not inclined to accept the argument of the Ld. Spl AR for the reason that even if the assessme....
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.... a particular date and that resulted in higher amount of production. It was further observed by the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal vide para 4.2 that So far as the production quantum is concerned, there is also no evidence on record to show that the authorities intervened lawfully recording the output in the presence of witness. The Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal held that therefore, a hypothetical case appears to have been made by Revenue in excessive exercise of its jurisdiction to the detriment of justice. The Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal further considered the retraction statement of the Director of the assessee company and vide para 6 held as under: "6. We would have certainly come to the rescue of Revenue had the statement been recorded in a manner known to law and cogent evidence had been brought to record to prove output cleared clandestinely. No cogent evidence is on record to show either suppression of purchase of input or clandestine removal of goods in fool proof manner known to law for which, it can be painfully said that the adjudication has no legs to stand. Both the appeals are therefore, allowed with ....
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.... Tribunal. It was held that there was no justification to support the said addition and the Revenue's appeal was dismissed. In the light of our above discussion, we are of the opinion that the additions made by the Assessing Officer and confirmed by Ld. CIT(A) in both the assessment years based on the order passed by the CCE, Aurangabad as well as on the basis of consumption of the electricity used in manufacturing of Ingots/Billets are not sustainable. We, accordingly, delete the additions made towards the alleged suppression of production and sales at entirety and allow the Ground Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 & 8 in the A.Y. 2007 -08 and Ground Nos. 2,3,4 & 6 in the A.Y. 2008 -09." 66. The Tribunal thereafter, held that there was no merit in the rejection of books of account and application of gross profit to determine the income in the hands of the assessee. The Tribunal also gave a finding that since the additions made in the hands of the assessee have been deleted, there was no merit in any addition on account of undisclosed investment in respect of the undisclosed turnover. The Tribunal vide paras 27 to 29 held as under: - "27. The next issue is the rejection of books of....
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....s under:- "31. We have heard the parties. The main grievance of the Revenue is against the estimation of GP by Ld. CIT(A). We have already allowed the grounds taken by the assessee on the alleged suppression of the production/sales. As the assessee has succeeded on the basic additions, the grounds taken by the Revenue do not survive as the entire additions are deleted in both the assessment years by allowing the grounds taken by the assessee. Accordingly, all the grounds of the Revenue in both appeals are dismissed." 68. The plea of the learned Authorized Representative for the assessee before us was that the issue raised in the present appeal is squarely covered by the ratio laid down in M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd. (supra). Since the basis for addition was the consumption of electricity, though on different ground i.e. consumption of electricity as per US standard. However, the Ld. Special AR stressed that the issue raised in the present appeal was at variance. Vide his written submissions, he has raised identical grounds of appeal and had elaborately took us through various submissions and has relied on different case laws. The contention of the Ld. Special ....
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....at there is no merit in the said Miscellaneous Application filed by the Revenue and no remedy is available to the Revenue under section 254(2) of the Act. In view thereof, the next objection of the Ld. Special AR for not relying on the order of M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd. (supra) also stands dismissed. 71. Further, the Tribunal in the case of another Rolling Mills i.e. Mahaveer Steel Re-Rolling Mills Vs. ACIT in ITA Nos.1072 to 1076/PN/2012 and ACIT Vs. Mahaveer Steel Re-Rolling Mills in ITA Nos.1446 to 1450/PN/2012, relating to assessment years 2004-05 to 2008-09 vide order dated 05.03.2015 had applied the ratio laid down by the Tribunal in M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd. (supra) and held that the addition made towards alleged suppressed production and sales on the basis of consumption of electricity was deleted. In our opinion, the addition made by the Assessing Officer by relying on the consumption of electricity under US standards, by no stretch of imagination, can be applied under Indian conditions, in the absence of any finding that the conditions for carrying out manufacturing activity in US and India were same. The benefit of 25% allowed is without any basis an....
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....ainst which, handicap of 25% was given. The Assessing Officer applying the formula worked out the suppressed production and sales in the hands of the assessee. We in the paras hereinabove have already adjudicated the issue that no addition on account of suppressed production / sales on account of such formula could be made in the hands of the assessee. The Ld. Special AR on the other hand, stressed that where the Assessing Officer had the information of alleged clandestine removal of material without payment of Excise duty and also because of the admission of the assessee before the Assessing Officer, the sales for the period of 300 days should be extrapolated in the hands of the assessee. He stressed that even where the evidence of clandestine removal of material without payment of Excise duty and suppression of income was found for the part of the year, then the Assessing Officer can estimate the additional income for whole of the year. Merely because the Assessing Officer had adopted another methodology of suppression, the addition in the hands of the assessee could be sustained on the basis of extrapolation of sales for 300 days, in view of the admission of the assessee of clan....
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....vidence found for the part of the year is justified or not. The answer, in our opinion, has to be in negative. 75. The Ld. Special AR vehemently relied on the ratio laid down by the Tribunal in assessee's own case reported in 137 TTJ (Pune) 627, which in turn has been approved by the Hon'ble Bombay High Court. It may be pointed out that the facts of the case before the Tribunal in assessment year 2006-07 are at variance. The addition in the hands of the assessee was made on the basis of search and seizure action carried out by the Income-tax Department and the documents found during the course of search, which were admitted by the assessee to reflect suppression of sales. On the basis of aforesaid documents, the income for the year was extrapolated, which order of the Tribunal was approved by the Hon'ble Bombay High Court. However, for the year under consideration, there was no search and seizure operation carried out by the Income-tax Department against the assessee and also no investigation or inquiry was made by the Assessing Officer, as stated earlier. In the absence of any evidence collected against the assessee, merely because the addition was made in the hands of th....
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.... of material without payment of Excise duty has been found by the Excise Department, in respect of sale of goods for a particular quantity and for a particular period, the same could not be relied upon as evidence, while extrapolating the sales and the additional income thereon in the hands of the assessee during the Income-tax proceedings. The Assessing Officer does not have any evidence for suppressed production and even after the order of Settlement Commission, the Assessing Officer had not investigated or brought any material on record establishing suppressed production and / or its sale outside the books of account. 78. The Ld. Special AR time and again stressed that the assessee had made admission before the Assessing Officer and this was the evidence available with the Assessing Officer. The alleged admission before the Assessing Officer was only by way of the additional income offered by the assessee, which was relatable to the clandestine removal of material without payment of Excise duty admitted before the DGCEI and offered by way of petition before the Settlement Commission. No statement of Directors of the assessee company was recorded either by Assessing Offi....
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....les for part of the period during the course of search. The Assessing Officer on the said basis assumed unaccounted sales during the entire year, which was deleted by the CIT(A) and the Tribunal. The Hon'ble Delhi High Court observed that assumption of Assessing Officer may have perhaps been valid if the search had been conducted after the accounting year and the books of account had brought some discrepancy. 83. Similar proposition has been laid down by the Hon'ble Bombay High Court in CIT Vs. C.J. Shah and Co. (supra). 84. Further, the Bilaspur Bench of the Tribunal in Chattisgarh Steel Casting Pvt. Ltd. V. ACIT (supra) decided similar issue of the information available with the Central Excise Department, wherein unaccounted sales was estimated for 56 days and the Assessing Officer estimated the sales for the remaining period. The addition was deleted in the hands of the assessee and was restricted to the income declared by the assessee on the basis of papers seized, for which the assessee had filed a petition before the Settlement Commission and income on that account was declared by the assessee. The Tribunal held that no further addition could be made in the ....
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....er to buy peace of mind, it had declared the said amount by way of petition before the Settlement Commission. The said offer made by the assessee was accepted in toto. It may be noted that the Excise authorities have the power to re-visit the offer made by the assessee, in case, any adverse material is available against the person making the offer. It may also be noted that the Settlement accepted in the hands of the assessee is for the financial year and is not restricted to the number of days for which it has offered. In other words, once a person makes a settlement petition for a particular year on account of the evidence found for part of the period and once the petition is accepted in the hands of the assessee, no further addition can be made on account of alleged clandestine removal of goods or suppressed sales, in the absence of evidence for the balance period. The above said ratios have been laid down in Chattisgarh Steel Casting Pvt. Ltd. V. ACIT (supra), Hon'ble Bombay High Court in CIT Vs. C.J. Shah & Co. (supra), Hon'ble Delhi High Court in CIT Vs. Anand Kumar Deepak Kumar (supra). The Ld. Special AR had placed reliance on the decision of Hon'ble Bombay High Court in CI....
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....rangabad, who was also in knowledge of the clandestine removal of material and the investigation carried out by the DGCEI and the petition before the Settlement Commission, even the Third Member of CESTAT was aware of all these proceedings, but since the settlement petition filed by the assessee had been accepted in toto by the Settlement Commission, no further addition could be made in the hands of the assessee on this ground, in the absence of any inquiry or investigation by the Assessing Officer. Accordingly, the reliance placed upon by the Ld. Special AR in assessee's own case reported in 137 TTJ 627 [Pune] is mis-placed and there is no merit in the arguments of the Ld. Special AR in this regard." 87. Another plea raised by the Ld. Special AR was that income could be estimated/ taxed on the theory of preponderance, in turn relying on the ratio laid down by the apex court in Sumati Dayal Vs. CIT (supra) and Collector of Customs Madras and others Vs. D. Bhoormull (supra), which was also relied upon by the Ld. Special AR in M/s. SRJ Peety Steels Pvt. Ltd. (supra) and the same had been considered by the Tribunal. During the course of hearing, the Ld. Special AR relied on s....
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.... of sales for 300 days on account of any evidence found in any preceding or succeeding years. Further, no addition can be made in the hands of the assessee, where no petition has been filed by the assessee before the Settlement Commission in any of the respective years or before the Excise authorities. 89. Since we have deleted the addition in the hands of assessee on both accounts i.e. addition made on account of erratic consumption of electricity and addition proposed on the basis of evidence found for the part of the year of clandestine removal of material without payment of Excise duty, next addition made in the hands of the assessee i.e. alleged investment in the purchases for effecting such sales which goods have been clandestinely removed, is not sustainable. Accordingly, we hold that no addition can be made in the hands of the assessee on account of alleged investment in purchases under section 69C of the Act." 7. Thereafter, Corrigendum order dated 17.02.2016 was passed by the Tribunal substituting para 88 of the Tribunal and it was held as under:- "3. On perusal of the record, we find that by an error, the findings of the Tribunal in para 88 with spec....
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