NATIONAL PLYWOOD INDUSTRIES LTD Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner No. 1 is a Public Limited Company represented by the petitioner No. 2, its Managing Director. It deals with manufacture and sale of plywood, board etc. The petitioner Company has a plywood factory at Tinsukia (Assam ). It is liable to Central Excise duties in respect of the products manufactured in the said factory. The petitioner is aggrieved by Annexure-L order dated 28. 09. 01 passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise, Shillong confirming the demand made in terms of the provision of Section 11 (a) (2) of Central Excise Act, 1944 and in addition imposing the penalty of Rs. 2,50,000/- in terms of the provision of Rules 171 Q (1) of the Central Excise Rule, 1944. The demand made was for Rs. 1,82,67,650. 99 and the demand was made vide show cause notice issued about 21 years back. Thanks to ongoing litigation initiated at the instance of the writ petitioner, the matter has not attained its finality as yet.

(2.) IT was in 1984, to be precise, on 20. 02. 84 the officers of the Directorate of Anti-evasion of Central Excise had made raids simultaneously at the factory of the petitioner Company at Tinsukia as well as at various other residences of the Directors of the Company and in the course of the raids, books of accounts and other related papers, documents, bills, price list etc. were ceased.

(3.) AFTER the aforesaid seizure, the petitioner company was issued with show cause notice dated 12. 12. 85 alleging that the petitioner had evaded Central Excise duty to the tune of Rs. 1,82,67,650. 99 by making misstatement, suppression of material facts and by misdeclaring the price list and misclassification of goods to the Central Excise authorities from time to time for the period from 1981 to 24. 02. 84.