JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-The sole question for our consideration in these appeals is whether the Central Excise & Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal ( the Tribunal ) was justified in accepting the contention of the respondent Department that the three appellants herein are so inter-connected and have mutuality of interest among themselves, as to club their production for the purpose of either denying them the benefit of the exemption limit or to assess them as one unit for the purpose of levy of central excise duty.

2. The tribunal while dismissing the appeals of the appellants herein agreed with the collector of Central Excise, Pune that the three units (the appellants herein) procured raw materials together, they had common credit facilities from the suppliers, had common stock accounting and planning, they are inter-dependents in manufacturing operations, had common stock of raw materials and semi furnished goods, were having common use of the machinery between the three units, were having common marketing arrangements and free flow of finance between themselves. On these basis, the tribunal concurred with the Collector that the three units in fact are so inter-related that the D