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2015 (8) TMI 1126 - HC - Central ExciseRecovery of excise duty - Recovery from purchaser of wound up company - Held that:- Corporation has not transferred or disposed of its business or trade. The Corporation has been wound up by an order of the Court and its assets have been sold off. A running business has not been sold. It has come on record that production activity is not being carried out since 1997. The Counter Affidavit of the Central Excise Department is silent as to how they have asserted that a running business of the Corporation has been purchased by the petitioner. In the absence of any proof of this nature coupled with the fact the Official Liquidator issued an advertisement for sale of the assets of the Corporation after a winding up order was passed by the High Court, we are of the opinion that the past dues of the Central Excise Department cannot be recovered from the petitioner under Section 11 of the Act. Similar notice was issued by the Central Excise Department demanding duty of finished goods lying in stock, which was received by the petitioner from the Official Liquidator pursuant to their highest bid being accepted. The Commissioner, Central Excise Department after considering the matter passed an order dated 28.07.2011 holding that the petitioner was not the manufacturer of goods and, therefore, was not liable to pay central excise duty quite apart from the fact that the petitioner had purchased the property in auction, which was free from all encumbrances and, consequently, dropped the proceedings. - since the petitioner had only purchased the assets of the Corporation in pursuance of the winding up order passed by the High Court and had not taken over a running business of the Corporation, the liability of past central excise dues payable by the Corporation cannot be fastened nor recovered from the petitioner - Decided in favour of assessee.
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