Gujarat High Court
Commissioner Of Central Excise And ... vs Mahesh Silk Mills....Opponent(S) on 9 December, 2014
Bench: Akil Kureshi, Vipul M. Pancholi
O/TAXAP/1270/2014 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
TAX APPEAL NO. 1270 of 2014
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COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL EXCISE AND CUSTOMS SURAT I....Appellant(s)
Versus
MAHESH SILK MILLS....Opponent(s)
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Appearance:
MR RJ OZA, ADVOCATE for the Appellant(s) No. 1
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE VIPUL M. PANCHOLI
Date : 09/12/2014
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI) Revenue is in appeal against the judgment of the Customs, Excise & ServiceTax Appellate Tribunal ('the Tribunal' for short) raising following questions for our consideration:
"[a] Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribunal has committed substantial error of law in holding that there is no sufficient evidence for clandestine removal of goods by the respondent even though a diary recovered from the premises of the respondent and entry thereof is corroborated by the officer of M/s. Chandan Prints in his statement recorded under Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944?
[b] Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribunal has committed substantial error of law in accepting belated retraction of statement made by the officer of M/s.Page 1 of 2
O/TAXAP/1270/2014 ORDER Chandan Prints in reply to show cause notice which is filed after about 2½ years of recording statement under Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944?"
Having heard the counsel for the revenue and having perused the documents on record, particularly the decision of the Tribunal impugned before us, we find that the entire issue is based on realm of appreciation of evidence. The Tribunal came to the conclusion that the department did not have sufficient evidence to establish the clandestine and removal of goods. Learned counsel for the revenue, however, submitted that the reliance was placed by the department on diaries seized during the course of the investigation and on the statement of the responsible officer of the assessee.
However, we may notice that the statement of the assessee was later on retracted. Further, the Tribunal having considered the evidence on record and come to the factual findings, in our opinion, no question of law arises. Tax Appeal is, therefore, dismissed.
(AKIL KURESHI, J.) (VIPUL M. PANCHOLI, J.) Jani Page 2 of 2