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CUSTOM EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, MADRAS
MS. JYOTI BALASUNDARAM, Dr. Chittaranjan Satapathy, JJ.
Senior Depot Manager, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. -Appellant
Versus
Commissioner of Central Excise, Salem -Respondent
Final Order No. 847/2010 Appeal No. E/989/2004, 847 of 2010, E/989 of 2004
Decided On : 03-08-2010
Muthuvenkatraman,V.V. Hariharan
Ms. Jyoti Balasundaram, Vice-President - The assessees challenge the duty demand of Rs.71,57,637/- collected, by them as excise duty from their retail outlets and certain direct customers, on the ground that they are only the depots from whom the duty cannot be collected, as duty liability lies upon the manufacturer of the goods in question. In this connection, they rely upon the decisions of the Tribunal in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Vs Commissioner reported in 2002 (53) RLT 670 (CEGAT-Del.)=2002 (144) ELT 672, 2002 (146) ELT 646 and 2003 (158) ELT 833 and also upon the fact that the S.L.P filed by the Revenue against the Tribunal's order reported in 2004 (60) RLT 574 (CESTAT-Mum.)=2003 (158) ELT 833 has been dismissed, as seen from 2004 (172) ELT A133 (SC) and the Tribunal's order in their own case reported in 2007 (212) ELT 536.
2. Following the ratio of the above decisions, which held that demand under Section 11D of the Central Excise Act, 1944 can only be made from the manufacturer of the goods in respect of which such amount was collected and noting the admitted position that assessees are not the manufacturers of the goods in question, we set aside the impugned order and allow the appeal.
