CCE Vs. SH. B.S.G.K. SHASHTRY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Revenue has filed the present appeals against the decision of the Commissioner (Appeals) wherein he has reduced the penalty under Section 76 from Rs. 86,738/ - to Rs. 15,000/ - and Rs. 75,049/ - to Rs. 10,000/ - in respect of two different Orders -in -Original under consideration.

(2.) LD . SDR on behalf of the Revenue submitted that Section 76 is unambiguous and does not provide any liberty to the officers deciding the case to reduce the penalty and it has to be Rs. 100/ - per day or Rs. 200/ - per day as the case may be. In support of his contention he submits the decision of the Tribunal in M/s. ETA Engineering Ltd. . On the other hand ld. Chartered Accountant Shri Sandeep Sachdeva submits that Hon'ble Bombay High Court has recently held that authorities have discretion to impose lesser penalty under Section 80 of the Finance Act, 1994 in M/s. Vinay Bele & Associate 2008 (9) STR 350 (Bom.). However, he also submits that there are several decisions of the Tribunal wherein the penalty has been reduced and in support of this he cites the following decisions.