The Kolkata bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) quashed the penalty imposed on the Chartered Accountant (CA) under rule 26 of the Central Excise Rules,2002 on the ground of proper issuance of certificate by the assessee.
Manohar Lal Agarwala, the appellant assessee was a registered Chartered accountant having its Firm under the name of M.L.Agarwala & CO, Tinsukia, Assam, and the assessee was asked by Kitply Industries to verify their books of Accounts and value the plant and machinery of the company and after examining the relevant records, the assessee issued a certificate certifying the value as per their Balance Sheet.
The assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) for imposing a penalty on the assessee relating to the value of the plant and machinery of Kitply Industries without examining their books of accounts, based on which the assessee had taken ineligible exemption under Notification.
Mayur Agarwal, the counsel for the assessee contended that there was no evidence on record to substantiate the allegation that the company had claimed the benefit of exemption notification based on the certificate issued by the assessee. Hence, the penalty imposed on the assessee under Rule 26 of the Central Excise Rules was not justified, and prayed for setting aside the same.
J. Chattopadhyay, the counsel for the department relied on the decisions made by the lower authorities and contended that the assessee was also included in the act for availing the ineligible exemption and the penalty imposed by the revenue was as per the law and liable to be sustained.
The Bench observed that the assessee had not specified the purpose for which the certificate was issued by him and the assessee had not abetted the offense, if any, committed by the company in claiming the benefit of exemption provided under Notification.
The two-member bench comprising Muralidhar (Judicial) and Anpazhakan (Technical) held that the penalty imposed on the assessee under Rule 26 of the Central Excise Rules was liable to be deleted while allowing the appeal filed by the assessee.
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