DIXON UTILITIES AND EXPORTS LTD. Vs. CCE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Vide impugned order, the Commissioner of Central Excise, Nodia has confirmed a duty demand of Rs. 99,56,988/ - on colour picture tubes (CPTs) sent under Rule 57F(4) for repairs to manufactures of CPTs such as Samtel Colour Ltd., LG Hotline CPT Ltd., etc. on the ground that they were not repaired but replaced with fresh CPTs by the CPT manufacturer and, therefore, M/s. Dixon Utilities and Exports Ltd. (appellant No. 1) was not entitled to the credit of the above mentioned amount, confirmed a demand of Rs. 4,17,715/ - representing additional consideration received by the appellants No. 1 from LG Electronics Ltd., confirmed a duty demand of of Rs. 91,324/ - on CPTs which were written off as defective and a demand of Rs. 1,64,651/ - and Rs. 5,53,123/ - respectively on finished goods and inputs found short and a demand of Rs. 8,384/ -, and imposed penalties of Rs. 1,11,98,185/ - (being the amount equal to the duty confirmed) and penalties of Rs. 33 lakhs each on LG Hotline CPT Ltd. and Samtel Colour Ltd. and JCT Electronics and Rs. 1 lakh each on Shri Rajinder Verma, Senior Manager of LG Hotline CPT Ltd., Shri M.S. Garg, Deputy Manager and Authorised Signatory of Samtel Color Ltd. and Shri Ravi Inder Singh Nirankari, authorised Signatory of JCT Electronics and a penalty of Rs. 3 lakhs on shri Harish Sharma, Manager and Authorised Signatory of Dixon Utilities and Exports Ltd. the ground for denial of modvat credit of Rs. 99,56,988/ - is that since the SI. Nos. of CPTs sent by appellants No. 1 to CPT manufacturer was not mentioned in the challans issued in terms of Rule 57F(4); the demand of Rs. 4,17,715/ - has been confirmed on the ground that debit note for Rs. 23,20,640/ - has been issued by appellant No. 1 on LG Electronics (buyer of CTVs) for the period when CTVs attracted excise duty based on the assessable value and not MRP basis and, therefore, this amount represents additional consideration from the buyer of CTVs viz LG Electronics; credit of Rs. 91,324/ - has been denied on the ground that certain quantities of CPTs which have been written off by those CPTs which could not be repaired; the finding of shortage of inputs and finished goods is based upon reconciliation statements which indicated verification of stocks "actual v. records" and demand of Rs. 8384/ - has been confirmed on the ground that this represents differential duty on account of change in MRP of CTVs cleared to LG Electronics.

(2.) We have heard both the sides. Our findings on the above are recorded below. 2.1 Denial of credit of Rs. 99,56,988/ -: We find that on the very basis of non -mention of SI. Nos. of CPTs in the challans issued under Rule 57F(4) of the Central Excise Rules, proceedings were initiated against CPT manufacturer for demand of duty in respect of very same CPTs in question in the present batch of cases; proceedings initiated against Samtel Color Ltd. were dropped by the Jurisdictional Deputy Commissioner vide order No. 48 to 56/01 dated 31.7.2001 and this order has been accepted by the Revenue which has not filed any appeal against it; similarly, proceedings initiated against LG Hotline CPT Ltd., for the very same CPTs were dropped by the Tribunal vied Final Order No. 417/04 dated 12.5.2004. (reported in 2004 (63) RLT 813 while allowing appeal No. E/3740/03/NB -A. Thus the ground for denial of modat credit to appellant No. 1 herein no longer survives; we also note that in respect of other similarly situated CTV manufacturers such as Samsung India Electronics Ltd., Bestavision Electronics Ltd., proceedings initiated by the NOIDA Commissionerate for denial of modvat credit was set aside by the Tribunal by the following orders: 1. Samsung India Electronics Ltd. v. CCE 2. 2004 (61) RLT 993 Bestavision Electronics Ltd. v. CCE

(3.) Final Order No. 768 -770/04/NB -B dt. 21.9.2004 LG Electronics India Ltd. and Ors.