The Chandigarh bench of the Custom, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that the Small Scale Industry (SSI) exemption cannot be denied on the ground of usage of the surname of the family in the separate entity by the assessee.
Mankoo Machine Tolls Pvt. Limited, the appellant assessee was engaged in the manufacture of power process and the assessee was affixing the label and logo of “Mankoo” on the machines manufactured by them.
The assessee appealed against the order passed by adjudicating authority for the non-granting of SSI exemption filed by the assessee on the ground of using of brand name which was not their own.
Krati Singh and Aman Singh, the counsels for the assessee contended that the revenue was well aware of the usage of such brand by the assessee as they were manufacturing from 1995 and had been also regularly exporting therefore, the extended period cannot be invoked.
It was further submitted that the SSI exemption cannot be denied on the usage of the surname of the family given the above, the issue was no longer res integra and not sustainable.
Aneesh Deewan, the counsel for the revenue relied on the decisions made by the lower authorities and contended that the assessee wrongfully utilized the brand name of “Mankoo” registered in the name of “Mankoo International Limited” and thus is not eligible for SSI exemption.
The bench observed that there was no using of the brand name of another person and the name used was the surname of the Director of the assessee therefore, such usage does not come under the exceptions for availing of the benefit of SSI exemption.
The two-member bench comprising S. S. Garg (Judicial) and P. Anjani Kumar (Technical) held that the assessee was eligible to get the benefit of small-scale industrial exemption while allowing the appeal filed by the assessee.
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