Mere Statements of Director which is Inculpatory in Nature can’t be Ground for Upholding Activities of Clandestine Removal: CESTAT [Read Order]

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While hearing the case of M/s S.R. Ingots Pvt. Ltd, the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal ( CESTAT ) held that mere statements of the director which is inculpatory in nature cannot be adopted as a ground for upholding the activities of clandestine removal.

Assessee, in the present case is a private limited company M/s S.R.Ingots engaged in the manufacture of MS ingots. During the relevant period, a search was conducted by the officers in the business premises of the Assessee and recovered some consignment receipt notes, weighment slips etc. and compared the same with the entries made in the statutory records and found that the Assessee indulged in clandestine clearances involving duty of Rs. 18,47,284 and accordingly notice issued for imposing penalty and the original adjudicating authority upholding the proposals in the notice.

After considering the facts and circumstances of the present case, the Tribunal bench comprising Judicial Member Archana Wadhwa observed that “apart from the weighment slips, there is no further evidence on record to show that the appellant had procured the huge raw material in a clandestine manner and has manufactured their final product which stands cleared by them in a clandestine manner. Even though the names of the customers were available in such weighment slips, the Revenue has not bothered to examine them and has not carried out the further investigations”.

The Tribunal further held that “mere statements of the Director which is inculpatory in nature cannot be adopted as a ground for upholding the activities of clandestine removal, for which the onus is heavily placed on the Revenue as regards the duty confirmation in respect of short found goods, without any corroborative evidence, it has to be held that the same is not justified”.

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