No Excise Duty payable on Supply of Concrete Mix: CESTAT [Read Order]

The Allahabad Bench of Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that no Excise Duty payable on the supply of concrete mix.

The issue involved in these appeals is whether ‘Ready Mix Concrete (RMC in short) or ‘concrete mix’ manufactured by the appellant at the site of M/s Supertech Limited, and supplied to them, whether it is dutiable under the Central Excise Act.

It appeared to Revenue that appellant, M/s Ambit Concrete (P) Ltd. manufactured and supplied RMC to M/s Supertech Limited, by manufacturing in their batching plant installed at the site of M/s Supertech Limited, for its residential project at Eco Village-II. Further, M/s Supertech Limited provided information, being copies of purchase bills, details of copies of ledger accounts in respect of RMC purchased from appellant for the period 2012-13 to 2015-16 (up to February 2016), vide their letter.

The Coram of Judicial Member, Anil Choudhary, and Technical  Member, P. Anjani Kumar found that from the show cause notice and the impugned order-in-original that none of such facts were found and /or alleged in the instant show-cause notice. Admittedly, there has been no inspection at the site (Eco Village-II), where the appellant has installed their batching plant for supplying to M/s Supertech Limited. Further, admittedly the appellant has taken registration under Service Tax provisions with the Department and was paying service tax on the job charges. Admittedly, the appellant has raised two bills one for the supply of material and the other for job work – mixing the cement, aggregate water, etc. in its batching plant. Further, the appellant has raised the job work invoice for the concrete mix.

“We hold that Revenue has not brought any facts on record in support of its allegation of manufacture of RMC by the appellant. Thus, in the facts and circumstances, we conclude that what has been manufactured and supplied by the appellant is a ‘concrete mix’, which is not dutiable. Further, in view of our finding that the appellant has taken registration for service tax, paying service tax, and making compliances for the said activity under dispute, the facts were in the knowledge of the Department and as such extended period of limitation is not invokable. We further find that in trade parlance ‘concrete mix’ and ‘RMC’ are used interchangeably, as clarified by the Board Circular and by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Manufacturing of RMC is a process involving several machines and is a matter of precision,” the court said.

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