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2019 (1) TMI 1695
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....st Schedule to Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. During the period from 1st October 1986 to 9th March 1989, the goods were assessed to duty at 15% in accordance with the rate appendant to the classification approved by the competent authority under the then prevailing rule 173B of Central Excise Rules, 1944. Based on samples drawn on 3rd October 1987 and tested by the chemical laboratory, central excise authorities concluded that the alternative classification rendered them liable to standard rate of duty at 60% with two effective rates - at 40% under notification no. 132/86-CE dated 1st March 1986 at serial no. 39 and notification no. 53/88-CE dated 1st March 1988 at serial no. 42 or at 35% at serial no. 15 and 16 respectively of the two no....
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.... classification lists and, that too, on specific direction from the jurisdictional range officers, recourse to the extended period, under section 11A of Central Excise Act, 1944, for demand of duty is legally barred. It is also submitted that even if the excisable goods were manufactured from 'silicone emulsion', which could have been generated only from 'chlorosilanes', condition in the exemption notifications supra would have been complied with and that the benefit of notification, specifying mandated raw material, was available even if the eligible product was made with intermediate goods that were produced out of that raw material stood clarified in trade notice no. 100 (MP)/Plastics & Articles of Plastics (7)/1990 dated 11th October 19....
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....chlorosilanes' by the Rochow process and the direct production of 'silicone' by reduction of 'silica' and 'coke' in an electric arc furnace. It would also appear that the denial of the alternative effective rate was attributed to the failure in claiming such in the classification lists. 9. From the cursory manner in which the criticality of classification lists, and their approval as a pre-requisite for clearance of manufactured goods, has been ignored by the lower authorities, it would appear that the inordinate lapse of time between the commencement of proceedings and the disposal thereafter, during which the assessment procedure had been drastically transformed, bears every hallmark of lack of comprehensiveness of the impact that the ....
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....service of the notice. Now, in the present case, it has been found by the High Court and, in our opinion, rightly, that there was no suppression or mis-statement of facts or fraud by the appellant to which the alleged short levy or non-levy could be attributed. In fact, it is common ground that right from 1962 the appellant was filing classification lists containing the description of the items and showing them as liable to the payment of excise duty only under Item No. 26AA(ia) and these lists were accepted and approved by the excise authorities. In these circumstances, we fail to see how it could be said that the appellant was guilty of any suppression or mis-statement of facts or collusion or violation of the provisions of Central Excise....
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....cessary and the relevant facts and then only determine the classification and pass appropriate orders; and once the Assistant Collector has approved the classification the department has to bear the consequences thereof.' and the entitlement to the benefit of exemption notification was explained thus '16. Further, mention or non-mention of a particular notification was not of such significance because even if a person does not claim the benefit to which he was otherwise entitled to, but the officers know that the benefit was available they could have and indeed should have extended the benefit suo moto. The department was not expected to take advantage of somebody's ignorance. In fact it was open to the Assistant Collector to ma....