The Kolkata bench of the Custom, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that the post facto production of the certificate by the assessee was entitled to get the exemption under the exemption notification.
Gannon Dunkerly & Co.Ltd, the appellant assessee was a manufacturer of PSC Sleepers and dispatched the sleepers to M/s. Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. on payment of excise duty for railway projects which was funded by the Asian Development Bank.
The assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) for denying the benefit of exemption.
Sagar Chowdhury, the counsel for the assessee contended that initially, the Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax sanctioned the refund claim, but an appeal was filed against the said order and the Commissioner (Appeals) set aside the order of sanctioning the refund claim for non-fulfilment of the condition of the notification.
It was further submitted that the assessee produced certificates for the availment of benefits after the clearance and even the production of certificates post facto was permissible in law.
S. Mukhopadhyay, the counsel for the revenue relied on the decisions made by the lower authorities and contended that the negative holding that the certificate produced after goods are cleared, the benefit of notification was not available.
The bench observed that the assessee has produced the certificate although late but the said certificate fulfilled the criteria of exemption available to the assessee.
The two-member bench comprising Ashok Jindal (Judicial) and K. Anpazhakan (Technical) held that the assessee was entitled to take benefit of exemption notification while allowing the appeal filed by the assessee.
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