TMI Blog2019 (3) TMI 243X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sfaction of the proper officer to have been lost or destroyed by natural causes or by unavoidable accidents during handling or storage. The finding of the learned Commissioner that the Appellant had been negligent in safeguarding molasses is not reasonable as the Appellant s stake in the destroyed molasses was much higher than the stake of the Revenue. Nobody would deliberately indulge in such act or exercise which may result in huge loss and therefore while interpreting Rule 49 the authorities are required to be liberal. All the accidents occurred due to lack of protections of the personnel responsible for avoiding such accidents and nobody indulges in such accidents purposely. If the observation as made by the learned Commissioner is a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ORDER The instant appeal has been filed by the appellant from the impugned Order-in-Original dated 11.6.1997 passed by the Commissioner, Central Excise Customs, Pune by which the ld. Commissioner confirmed the demand of Central Excise duty amounting to ₹ 12,53,770.32p against the appellant under Section 11A of the Central Excise Act, 1944. The issue involved is about the remission of duty on the molasses lost due to accident. 2. The Appellant are engaged in manufacturer of sugar and molasses in their factory. They stored these molasses in steel tanks having capacity of 6000 MT each. According to the appellant, on 8.5.1995 an explosion took place in one of the tanks i.e. Tank No.1 and 5224.043 MT of Molasses flushed out of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be imposed on them under Rule 9(2), 52(A) (8), 1730 of the Rules. The ld. Commissioner i.e. the Adjudicating Authority vide impugned order dated 11.6.1997 while observing that the Appellants have not shown satisfactorily that the molasses were lost or destroyed by natural cause or by unavoidable accident during storage, confirmed the demand of Central Excise duty amounting to ₹ 12,53770.32p against the appellant under Section 11A of the Central Excise Act, 1944. 4. I have heard ld. counsel for the Appellant and ld. Authorised Representative for the Revenue and perused the records. The Learned Counsel for the Appellant submitted that since the accident was unusual and unexpected therefore they referred the matter to the Vasant D ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... maintenance of steel tank is the job of civil department and the civil engineer in charge of the department is the proper person whose statement is reliable and the civil engineer has specifically stated in his statement that it is not necessary to carry out the hydro-static pressure test each and every year before taking the steel tank into use and that when in the normal course no deterioration or damage of the steel tank is visible there is no need of inspecting the tank thoroughly. During the course of arguments he also stated that the state excise authorities after proper verification of the entire matter has condoned the said loss of the molasses vide order dated 27.12.1996 but the learned Commissioner failed to take into consideratio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Revenue. Nobody would deliberately indulge in such act or exercise which may result in huge loss and therefore while interpreting Rule 49 the authorities are required to be liberal. 6. Needless to mention that all the accidents occurred due to lack of protections of the personnel responsible for avoiding such accidents and nobody indulges in such accidents purposely. If the observation as made by the learned Commissioner is accepted then it would make the said rule redundant. It is not the case of the Revenue that there is any malafide on the part of the Appellant to make the accident occur resulting in loss of molasses. The accident has occurred due to the formation of carbon dioxide gas through the whole volume of the molasses whic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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