TMI Blog2003 (1) TMI 448X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion 11AC and Rs. 4,00,000/- under Rule 173Q and offered redemption fine on goods ordered to be confiscated on the ground that the appellants had removed almost Rs. 5 crore worth of processed man-made fabrics without payment of duty during the period January 1997 to May 1997. 2.(a) The officers of the Department visited the factory of the appellants on 7-5-97, conducted verification of the stock of the raw material in-process material and finished goods; conducted enquiries. They searched the residential premises of one Shri Harshad G. Patel, an employee of the appellant Company, looking after the maintenance of the machinery, in the appellants factory, found certain documents in the form of delivery challans, grey check reports and jo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... st 20 days after the search operations. The Department thereafter concluded that the said employee was not traceable. 3. A show cause notice was thereafter issued to the appellants alleging that the documents found in the premises of Shri Harshad Patel related to the transactions undertaken by the appellants on the so called confessional statements of the Managing Director Director of the company support that there has been a removal of about 32 lakh linear mtrs (Lmtrs) of processed man-made fabrics without payment of appropriate duty. 4. The Commissioner has passed the impugned order rejecting the contentions of the appellants and more or less confirming the demand made out in the show cause notice. 5. After considering the submiss ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the assessee from whose residence the documents were recovered to corroborate the same. There is a serious lapse on the part of the investigating officer in not making any efforts to contact the person from whose custody, the documents were recovered. He has been issued summons after many days. The Directors whose alleged statements are being considered to corroborate the documents, to allege production and clandestine removal from the factory premises, have not been questioned on any specific entry in these documents. The learned Advocate for the appellants read out from the said documents that they also relate to KHADI which textile the appellants do not manufacture. The entire investigations and subsequent adjudications have been condu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rs and the adjudicators, to have applied themselves to determine facts in the case against the assessee, or rule out the possibility of alleged clandestine removal by painstaking findings to be arrived at on basis of alleged duplicate/original documents and matching the same which might have corroborated the retracted statements. Revenue demands cannot be confirmed on faith reposed on the admissions which are later on retracted. (d) It is settled law that while determining clandestine removal, the department has to take into consideration relevant factors like installed capacity, consumption of electricity, labour employed etc., to determine the quantum of production and then come to a conclusion. None of these factors have been found ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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