CESTAT Chandigarh Remands Dabur Appeals Over Excess Self-Credit, Excise Duty Demands For Recalculation

The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Chandigarh, has sent back a batch of appeals involving demands against Dabur India Ltd.'s Jammu and Kashmir units for allegedly taking refunds or self-credit in excess of the value addition permitted under the applicable exemption.For Unit I, the Department had demanded ₹3.45 crore as repayment of self-credit and a further ₹12.41 lakh as excise duty. For Unit II, it had demanded ₹5.40 crore as repayment of self-credit and a further...

CESTAT Chandigarh Allows CENVAT Credit On Inputs From Exempt Units, Grants Relief To Reckitt Benckiser

The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Chandigarh, has ruled that consumer goods maker Reckitt Benckiser India Ltd. was entitled to claim CENVAT credit on duty-paid raw materials purchased from certain tax-exempt manufacturers.It held that the benefit could not be denied simply because the law was amended later to expressly allow it. "We find that before the amendment there was no express prohibition in the CENVAT Credit Rules so as to deny such credit availed by the...

CESTAT Chennai Sets Aside Reclassification Of Poultry Cage Components As Iron and Steel Structures

The Chennai bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has set aside the reclassification of weld mesh components used in poultry battery cages. It held that the Revenue failed to explain how products admittedly manufactured exclusively for use in poultry battery cages could be treated as iron and steel structures under the Central Excise Tariff."The Revenue has not made any attempt in placing on record conceivable and convincing reasons as to how the goods under...

Natural Gas Compression For Transport Is Not Manufacture; CESTAT Kolkata Quashes ₹8.97 Crore Excise Demand

The Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Kolkata, has set aside an excise duty demand of ₹8.97 crore against Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd. (GEECL), ruling that compressing natural gas solely to facilitate transportation does not amount to the manufacture of compressed natural gas (CNG).Relying on its earlier ruling in GEECL's own case and its decision in Essar Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Ltd., the tribunal observed, "The above two case laws make it...

CESTAT Bangalore Allows ACC CENVAT Credit On Fly Ash Transport And Pond Maintenance Services

The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Bangalore has ruled in favour of ACC Ltd., holding that the cement manufacturer cannot be denied CENVAT credit on services used to maintain a fly ash pond and transport fly ash to its factory merely because those services were rendered outside the factory premises.It noted that the services were used to bring an essential raw material to the factory for manufacturing and threfore outside taxability. "We find that admittedly there...

Nicotine Sulphate Not Tobacco Product, Examiner Can't Decide Tariff Classification: CESTAT Ahmedabad

The Ahmedabad Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 29 July held that Nicotine Sulphate falls under Tariff Heading 29399900 as a vegetable alkaloid and not under Tariff Heading 24039990 as a tobacco product. It clarified that a chemical examiner can only provide analytical findings and cannot determine the tariff classification of a product. A Bench of Judicial Member Dr. Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha and Technical Member Satendra Vikram Singh set aside the excise duty demand...

Extended Limitation Cannot Be Invoked For Non Disclosure Of Facts Not Required By Law: CESTAT Ahmedabad

The Ahmedabad Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 27 July held that the extended limitation period under Section 11A(4) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (which permits recovery beyond the normal limitation period in cases involving fraud, suppression of facts or wilful misstatement) cannot be invoked where the law did not require a taxpayer to disclose the information allegedly suppressed. A Bench comprising Judicial Member Dr. Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha allowed Polychem...

CESTAT Kolkata Quashes ₹7.06 Crore Excise Demand, Says PSU Appellant Cannot Be Alleged To Have Acted Mala Fide

The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Kolkata has set aside a ₹7.06 crore central excise demand against public sector undertaking Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd., observing that the appellant, being a PSU, could not be alleged to have acted with mala fide intent to clear goods clandestinely.A coram of Judicial Member Ashok Jindal and Technical Member K. Anpazhakan observed, "Further, the appellant being a public sector undertaking, we are of the opinion that the appellant...

No Cenvat Credit Reversal On Sulphuric Acid Supplied Duty-Free To Fertilizer Manufacturers: CESTAT Hyderabad

The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Hyderabad, has held that manufacturers are not required to reverse Cenvat credit on Sulphuric Acid supplied to fertilizer manufacturers without payment of excise duty under a conditional government notification. The tribunal held that such supplies cannot automatically be treated as "exempted goods" merely because no duty was paid on them. The tribunal observed that the product remained dutiable. It said the exemption was...

CESTAT Chennai Allows Hindustan Unilever Excise Refund, Holds CA Certificate Rebuts Unjust Enrichment

The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Chennai, has allowed Hindustan Unilever Ltd.'s refund claims arising from the finalisation of provisional assessments. It found that the company had established, through a Chartered Accountant's certificate, that the excess excise duty had not been passed on to customers. The tribunal held that the refund claims were therefore not barred by the doctrine of unjust enrichment. A coram of Judicial Member P. Dinesha and Technical...

Procedural Lapse Cannot Defeat Excise Exemption Benefit When Notification Is Silent: CESTAT Kolkata

The Kolkata Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 20 July held that the Department cannot deny an excise exemption merely because a manufacturer did not intimate the jurisdictional Central Excise authorities before clearing goods without payment of duty when the exemption notification does not impose such a requirement. A Single Member Bench comprising Technical Member K. Anpazhakan allowed the appeal filed by Power Tools and Accessories and set aside the...

CENVAT Credit Rules Do Not Make Ownership Of Goods A Condition For Availing Credit: CESTAT Chandigarh

The Chandigarh Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has held that the CENVAT Credit Rules do not make ownership of goods a condition for claiming CENVAT credit. It observed that CENVAT credit is attached to inputs and not to persons. The tribunal, however, ruled that a manufacturer cannot claim credit on inputs where the contractor has availed the benefit of abatement under the Works Contract (Composition Scheme), as that would result in the same tax benefit...