2008 (9) TMI 302

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....cal amount in terms of provisions of Section 11AC. In addition penalty of Rs. 4 lakh each stands imposed upon the other two appellants, who are Directors of the Company, in terms of Rule 209A of Central Excise Rules. 2. As per facts on record M/s. R.A. Shaikh Paper Mills Pvt. Ltd. are engaged in the manufacturer of MG Kraft Paper classifiable under chapter 48 of the Central Excise Tariff Act. Their factory was visited by the Central Excise officers on 17-8-2000, who conducted various checks and verifications. The officers recovered two Central Excise invoice books for the period 23-4-2000 to 7-6-2000 and one delivery challan book for the period 7-7-2000 to 6-8-2000. On comparison with the regular statutory records maintained by the unit, i....

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....ted the goods to various consignees. As all the statements stand elaborately discussed in the impugned order passed by the Original Adjudicating Authority, we are not reproducing the contents of the same. Suffice it to say that all the statements recorded during the course of investigation corroborated the depositions made by the Director at the time of seizure and at the time of drawing the panchnama, in his statement. 5. Based upon the above, proceedings were initiated against the appellant for confirmation of demand of duty in respect of clandestinely removed goods and for imposition of penalties. It may be mentioned here that the appellant did not dispute the duty calculated on the basis of the parallel invoice books but directed their....

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....ing paper without payment of duty either under the cover of a bogus invoice or without the cover of any document. It has also come on record that the payments for the goods received under the cover of bogus invoices were being made in cash and such records were being destroyed subsequently. The above fact also stands admitted by the appellant's authorized signatory Shri T.A. Chacko as also by the driver of the trucks owned by the manufacturing Unit and as well as by the Directors. It is also on record that some of the other consignees, who appeared and whose statements were recorded have admitted having received the goods, without payment of duty. It is only in respect of some of the consignees, the statements could not be recorded on accou....

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....the investigations were completed by June, 2001 when the last statement was recorded and as such, show cause notice issued on 28-8-2003, having been issued after a period of 6 months from the date of completion of investigations was barred by limitation. In support, reliance stands placed upon various decisions of the Tribunal. However, we find that apart from the fact that the allegations in the present case relate to clandestine activities, thus giving an extended period of limitation to the Revenue, we note that the appellant's stand that the investigations were completed by June, 2001 is not supported by any evidence on record. On one hand appellant is contending that each and every entry shown in the recovered note book is required to ....