The Mumbai bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) directed the adjudicating authority for re-adjudication on excise duty demand on the clearance of welding machines without analyzing expert evidence.
Warp Engineers Pvt Ltd, the appellant assessee had carried out the activity of ‘manufacture’ following note 6 in section XVI of the schedule to Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 on ‘welding machines’ imported by the assessee and the assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise, Mumbai for confirming the excise duty demand.
J C Patel, S P Mathew and Stebin Mathew, the counsels for the assessee contended that the department was not considered any expert evidence which was submitted by the assessee and the demand raised by the adjudicating authority was not as per the law and liable to be deleted.
P K Acharya, the counsel for the department relied on the decisions made by the lower authorities and contended that the assessee was liable to pay the demand which was raised by the department.
The Bench observed that the original adjudicating authority did not consider the allegedly expert evidence, such as the report of the Chartered Engineer and other experts and the catalogs of welding machines, which treated the items to be accessories, while averred by the notice to be components.
The two-member bench comprising Ajay Sharma (Judicial) and C J Mathew (Technical) remanded the matter back to the original authority to undertake fresh proceedings and issue an order that ultimately reflects the application of known law to establish facts by the adjudicating authority in office.
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