Partial Relief to Bata: CESTAT remands back the issue of denial of CENVAT Credit on Transportation of Footwear from Corporate Office to Retail Outlets [Read Order]

In a partial relief to Bata India, the Chennai Bench of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has remanded  back the issue of denial of CENVAT Credit on transportation of footwear from Corporate Office to retail outlets.

The appellant submitted that the Adjudicating Authority has mis-directed in denying the CENVAT Credit and that the Commissioner has not appreciated the facts of the case properly nor has she examined the facts of the case from the perspective of the directions of the High Court. In view of the amended provisions, especially Rule 2(l) read with Rule 2(t) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004, the ‘place of removal’ is the place from where the goods are sold after their clearance from the factory; that in their case, the goods, which are manufactured in the factory, are stock transferred to their RDCs located at Faridabad, Kolkata, Bangalore and Thane and from these RDCs, the goods are again stock transferred to their retail outlets; till that stage, there would be no sale since there is absolutely no transfer of possession of the goods for a consideration. 

The appellant submitted that the transfer of possession would take place only at the retail outlets, which is the first point of sale and hence, applying the definition of ‘place of removal’ and ‘sale’, the retail outlets should be regarded as the place of removal.

The coram of the Judicial Member, P. Dinesha noted that though there is an observation in the impugned orders that the manufacturing activities would cease as soon as the goods were transported to the RDCs / Corporate Office after manufacturing, but however, there is no supporting evidence placed on this to establish that it is at these RDCs / Corporate Office that the clearance of goods in the form of sale took place. Rather, there is nothing placed on record to indicate the basis for such a conclusion. 

“I deem it proper to set aside the impugned orders and remand the matter back to the file of the Adjudicating Authority, who shall examine the issue afresh and then pass a fresh speaking order in accordance with law. All the contentions are left open. It goes without saying that the Adjudicating Authority shall afford reasonable opportunities of being heard to the appellant,” the CESTAT directed.

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