TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2009 (1) TMI 105
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....nt-Revenue has filed the present appeal challenging order dated 16-08-2007 made in Appeal No.E./1628, 1629 of 2006 by the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, West Zonal Bench, Ahmedabad ("The Tribunal" for short) by proposing the following questions: "(1) Whether it is mandatory on the part of the department to permit cross-examination of panch witness in spite of the fact that ther....
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....ice dated 30-01-2004 was issued and subsequent thereto, adjudication took place wherein penalty was imposed. The matter was carried in Appeal by the respondent-unit to the Commissioner (Appeals), unsuccessfully. Ultimately, the matter reached the Tribunal by way of second appeal, culminating in the impugned order. 3. Mr. Y. N. Ravani, learned counsel for the appellant has forcefully submitted tha....
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...., it is doubtful that the shortages are genuine, and it cannot be inferred that the goods were clandestinely removed without payment of duty. (iii) that the entire procedure of physical stock-taking has been carried out without any panch witness and the request of the respondent-unit for cross-examination of panch witnesses, if any, has been turned down. (iv) that there is no evidence on record ....
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....existent and even the presence of panch witnesses is shrouded in doubt, and even assuming that panch witnesses were present, the refusal of permission to the respondent unit to examine them, it cannot be said that the order of the Tribunal suffers from any legal infirmity. In the absence of weighment slips, the amount of shortage itself is doubtful and the finding to this effect arrived at by the ....