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2016 (6) TMI 820 - HC - Central ExciseRecovery of central excise duty from successor of Unit - Auction purchaser - Restriction on to deliver, or otherwise dispose of, the plant and machinery without the order in writing of the Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise. - Held that:- In the present case, while the auction notice no doubt requires the auction purchaser to ascertain whether there are any central excise dues or not, the correspondence, to which our attention is drawn, shows that Export-Import Bank of India had informed central excise officials, by letter dated 10.07.2013, that despite repeated reminders and requests to take possession of the finished goods lying in the premises of M/s.Bommidala Filaments Limited, the Central Excise Department had failed to take possession; Exim Bank had sold the assets charged to them through auction to the successful bidder; they had already transferred the assets to the successful bidder; as the finished goods are not charged to Exim Bank and Exim Bank is not an agent of the Customs and Central Excise Department, they were not bound to take responsibility of keeping the goods in its custody; and the Central Excise Department could take possession of the finished goods immediately. It is evident that the impugned notices, calling upon M/s.Polisetty Somasundaram (the auction purchaser) and M/s.Kohinoor Ropes Private Limited, (which had purchased the plant and machinery from Polisetty Somasundaram) not to deliver or dispose of the plant and machinery, merely on the ground that these goods hitherto belong to M/s.Bommidala Filaments Limited who had defaulted in payment of central excise dues, fall foul of the law declared by the Supreme Court in Rana Girders Limited [2013 (8) TMI 540 - SUPREME COURT] The impugned proceedings are, accordingly, set aside and the writ petitions are allowed. It is made clear that this order does not preclude the respondents from taking possession of the finished goods, from the premises of M/s.Polisetty Somasundarm, towards recovery of the Central Excise dues. - Decided in favor of petitioner.
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