2008 (8) TMI 119

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....'brake fluid' and 'servokool' in bulk from M/s. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and repacked it in containers of varying retail quantities. They also received packing materials for the above activity from IOC. By Finance Act, 1997 labelling/relabelling of containers and packing/repacking from bulk pack to retail packs or adoption of any other treatment to render products of Chapter 3 was legislated to constitute 'manufacture'. In terms of the arrangement between PMP and IOC, PMP cleared retail packs containing break fluid and lubricating oil to outlets of IOC. During the period 1-1-98 to 2-7-98, the appellants had cleared goods manufactured in terms of the above provision introduced in the Central Excise Tariff by Finance Act, 1997 without pay....

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....ir ignorance of law. Therefore, larger period could not be invoked to demand duty not paid. The transactions also did not at tract penalty as there was no deliberate evasion of the impugned amount of duty. The appellants had not followed the statutory formalities governing their activities even after Note 5 to Chapter 3 was introduced in the Finance Act, 1997. Ld. JCDR submits that the Commissioner observed that ignorance of law was not an excuse. He had found that in those circumstances, the suppression of material fact with an intention to evade excise duty by PMP was established. He submitted that considering the duty of Rs. 32,17,984/- evaded by the appellants, equal amount of penalty could have been imposed on PMP. Penalty of Rs. 2,94,....