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TMI Blog2007 (11) TMI 175X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y Fiat on job work basis wherein M/s. Premier Automobiles Ltd. (PAL for short) procured all raw materials and accessories and supplied to Fiat, who assembled the Premier Padmini model cars and cleared the same to the dealers of PAL on payment of duty a @ 40% ad valorem. Fiat raised invoices on PAL for the job work charges. PAL issued commercial invoice to the dealers for the sale of the said cars. 3. Motor vehicles falling under Chapter 87.03 were under serial no.195 of Notification No. 4/97 dated 1-3-1997 was chargeable to duty @ 25% ad valorem when registered as taxi, subject to conditions prescribed in serial no. 34 (c) which read as under: "34(c) The manufacturer had not collected from the person, group of persons, any body or organiz ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... documents were prepared and attached by PAL: (i) registration certificate from RTO as evidence for registration of vehicle as taxi; (ii) original triplicate copy of invoice under which said car was cleared; (c) After signing the refund applicant, the same was handed over to PAL for submitting to the excise authorities; (d) On written confirmation from excise authorities that the refund claim was in order, PAL intimated the concerned dealer to refund the amount to the customer and obtained the Xerox copy of the cheque issued by PAL's dealer to the respective taxi owner and the original receipt from taxi owner confirming the receipt of that cheque. (e) On receipt of the stamped money receipt from the taxi owner and Xerox copy of the ref ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... efund claim sanctioned. Since documents on the basis of which the refund claims were sanctioned were forged, the entire refund claim filed by a purpose to mislead the department, indicate mala fide intention of Fiat and PAL and their dealers. 8. Fiat in reply denied the allegations and stated that the entire amount was paid back to PAL by giving a credit in their running account and in addition they submitted that after receipt of the show cause notice, they have contacted the taxi owners from October 2001 onwards and have paid the excess duty collected to the registered individual taxi owners and that out of Rs. 3,07,78,784/-sanctioned to them Rs.2,91,38,720.21 was paid to individual tax owners and that they were willing to disburse the r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... confirmed the demand of Rs.2,68,38,851/-along be with interest after adjusting Rs.75,18,967 already paid in cash by M/s. Fiat to M/s. PAL and imposed penalty of equal amount on Fiat and a penalty of Rs.30.00 lakhs on PAL and of varying amounts on the seven dealers. It is against this order that Fiat, PAL and other five dealers have come up in appeals before us. 12. The ld. Advocate for the appellants submitted that Commissioner has erred in holding that the amount of refund sanctioned to Fiat has not' been returned to PAL. It was submitted that PAL was maintaining a running account with them, wherein duty paid by Fiat to the department was debited in their account and once the refund was sanctioned to Fiat, equivalent amount was credited ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... refund made by them to the individual taxi owners and has in stead held that Fiat has not produced any evidence to show that they had now paid the differential duty to the taxi owners. On sanctioning by the department taxi refund in respect of Premier Padmini model motor cars was paid by Fiat to PAL at the first instance but after issue of show cause notice when it came to their notice that PAL had in turn not passed on the cheques to the individual taxi owners, they had contacted individual taxi owners through Taxi Owners Union and have refunded the amount to individual taxi owners and have submitted receipts by the taxi owners showing disbursement with request to the Commissioner to verify the same before adjudication of the case. They ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he appellants have taken a positive plea that in addition to return of the amount to PAL, they have by contacting the Mumbai Taximen Union who confirmed the name of persons who had purchased the Premier Padmini model motor cars, the registration number, dealer from who the vehicle was purchased, engine number, chassis number, driving licence, evidence of purchaser etc. Once the amount has been actually refunded to the individual taxi owners, the conditions of Notifications No. 4/97 and 5/98 ought to be considered as having been fulfilled and accordingly the demand cannot stand. However, since there is no finding regarding any verification carried out by the Commissioner, the matter is remanded back to the Commissioner with direction that th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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