2018 (6) TMI 1251
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....se Tariff Act, 1985. The appellant filed refund claim seeking refund of additional duty of Excise amounting to Rs. 23,02,902/- paid on tea cleared by them during the period from 01.03.2003 to 28.02.2005 as under: Sl.No. Period Amount Remarks 1. 01.03.2003 to 31.03.2003 Rs.20,801/- Rs.20,801/- Tea cleared by a bought leaf factory was exempted vide Notification No.13/2003-CE dated 01.03.2003 2. 01.03.2003 to 31.03.2004 Rs.11,67,418/- Tea cleared by a bought leaf factory was exempted vide Notification No.42/2003-CE dated 14.05.2003 3. 01.04.2004 to 28.02.2005 Rs.11,14,683/- Tea cleared by a bought leaf factory was exempted vide Notification No.42/2003-CE dated 14.05.2003 The Adjudicating Au....
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....so the adjudicating authority was not legally correct in deciding the eligibility of the assessee for exemption. Ld. Commissioner (Appeals) also observed that the adjudicating authority has failed to call for the required evidences and documents to hold that the burden of duty was not passed on to the buyers. 2. Ld. Advocate appearing on behalf of the appellant submits that the Commissioner (Appeals) has committed an error by setting aside the adjudication order on the ground of non-recording of the findings by the adjudicating authority on fulfillment of the conditions of the exemption notification, which is not the dispute in the show cause notice and thereby the lower appellate authority has travelled beyond the scope of the show caus....
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.... the benefit of exemption from additional duty of excise, during 1st March, 2003 to 31st March, 2003, the manufacture shall file an undertaking before 15th March, 2003 with the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise or the Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise that,- (i) not less than two-thirds of the green leaf used by a factory, during the period on and from 1st March, 2003 to 31st March, 2003 has been or shall be purchased from growers, each having a holding not exceeding hectares under tea cultivation; and (ii) the factory has been working for at least six months during the financial year 2002- 2003. (b) In the first week of April, 2003, the manufactures shall submit a statement of accounts, in a format to ....
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....he event of his failure to satisfy the undertaking, the manufacturer shall be liable to pay additional duty of excise specified in the Fourth Schedule to the Finance Bill, 2003 for the period referred to in condition (b). Explanation,- For the purposes of this notification, "bought leaf factory" means a factory which purchases not less than two-thirds of the green leaf processed by in the preceding financial year from any grower who has a holding not exceeding ten hectares of land under cultivation of tea. Notification No.42/2003 CE dated 14.05.2003 reads as- Tea cleared by a bought leaf factory during any financial year subsequent to 2002-2003: (a) The benefit of exemption from additional duty of excise shall commen....
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....nder cultivation of tea." 6. The appellant in view of the aforesaid exemption notifications submitted their refund claim with the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise at Nagaon Division. The duty was paid by the appellant under protest for the financial year 2003-04 and 2004-05 under intimation to the department. It is also on the record that the appellants have mentioned in each of the invoices that the additional excise duty is exempted and the duty element has not been passed on to the buyers. This fact has been verified and recorded by the adjudicating authority in the Order-in-Original dated 27.02.2007. 7. We find that the Ld.Commissioner (Appeals) has passed a purfuctionery order without discussing the complet....


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