TMI Blog2021 (11) TMI 596X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hearing. There are no force in this submission. The appellant tried to counter the Panchnama recorded by the officers by relying on various documents which it had submitted to various state and other authorities. A perusal of the documents listed shows that these are either licences or registrations obtained by the appellant or applications or declarations filed by it to various authorities. None of these is a document establishing that the commercial manufacture had commenced before 31 March 2010 - None of the documents which are said to have been produced before the Commissioner (Appeals) pertain to physical verification and finding of any authority to show that the factory was set up and commercial production commenced before 31 March ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er of auto parts falling under Chapter 87 of the Central Excise Tariff and claimed the benefit of area based exemption Notification No. 50/2003-CE dated 10.06.2003 which was available to units which have started commercial production by 31 March 2010. The appellant issued an invoice for their final products in the month of March 2010. In view of the cut off date for the eligibility of the exemption notification, verification of such units was carried out by the departmental officers who visited the appellant s premises on 08.04.2010 and found that the factory had not yet been set up and the construction was at a basic stage and no plant or machinery were installed till that date. Only a grinder bench and a few hand presses were found. Thus, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ioner to the extent of giving the appellant the benefit of SSI exemption Notification No. 8/2003 dated 01.03.2003. On the eligibility of the exemption Notification No. 50/2003, he found in favour of the Revenue. 7. There is no appeal by the Revenue against this order of the Commissioner (Appeals) and, therefore, to the extent of allowing the benefit of the SSI exemption Notification No. 8/2003 dated 01.03.2003, the matter has attained finality. 8. This appeal has been filed by the appellant assailing the impugned order for disallowing exemption Notification No. 50/2003-CE dated 10.06.2003 on the following grounds: (i) The order of the original authority was passed in violation of the principles of natural justice as no opportunity ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by not giving them an opportunity of personal hearing and there was no finding of the Commissioner (Appeals) on this aspect. We find that the original authority recorded in paragraph 2 of his order as follows: 2. Case for the Party :- M/s. Sonai Auto Industries did not submit any defence reply to the show cause notice. As the party neither submitted any defence reply nor requested for personal hearing even after passing of a considerable time period, another letter dated 12.8.2011 was issued to the party directing them to submit their defence reply immediately and also to inform that whether they want to avail the opportunity of personal hearing before the case is adjudicated. But the party neither submitted any defence reply nor re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... this date. If the appellant disagreed with the Panchnama, it could have assailed it, cross examined the officers or witnesses before the original authority. The Panchnama was one of the Relied upon Documents (RUD-3) in the show cause notice. The appellant did no such thing. None of the documents which are said to have been produced before the Commissioner (Appeals) pertain to physical verification and finding of any authority to show that the factory was set up and commercial production commenced before 31 March 2010. Therefore, we find no force in this ground of appeal also. 15. The third ground of appeal is that the appellant commenced commercial production prior to 31 March 2010. We find it very hard to believe this assertion when th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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