Ms. Archana Wadhwa, Judicial Member - Both the appeals are being disposed of by a common order as they arise out of same impugned order passed by Commissioner of Central Excise vide which he has confirmed the demand of excise including education cess amounting to Rs.1,77,08,029/- along with confirmation of interest and imposition of penalty of identical amount under section 11AC of the Central Excise Act, 1944. In addition, penalty of Rs.50,000/- stand imposed upon Shri Satyabrat Swain, General Manager of the appellant company. In addition, penalty of Rs.5000/- also stand imposed on the manufacturing company under Rule 7 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002.

2. As per facts on record, M/s. Surya Polypack Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as appellant) is engaged in the manufacture of multi layer poly film printed as well as non-printed chargeable to Central Excise duty under sub-heading No. 3921 90 99 of the Central Excise Tariff, in their unit located at Integrated Industrial Estate, SIDCUL Hardwar, Uttarakhand. In terms of notification No. 50/2003 dated 10.6.2003, the goods specified in the first and second schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, other than those specified in the annexure I to the notification and manufactured in the industrial area specified in annexure II to the notification are exempt from whole of the duty of excise as also from the whole of additional duty of excise, leviable under Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957 as also under the Additional duty of excise (Textile and Textile Articles), Act, 1978. Inasmuch as the appellants manufacturing unit is located in the area specified in annexure II to the notification and inasmuch as the goods manufactured by the appellant were not ousted from the benefit of said notification in terms of annexure I to the notification, the appellants availed the benefit of said notification with effect from 21.5.06, inasmuch as the first clearance was effected from the appellants factory on 21.5.06.

3. Said notification, apart from granting the exemption to the new units, which came up in the specified area, also extended exemption to the existing units, which undertook substantial extension to the extent of more than 25% of the installed capacity. Initially the notification did not prescribe filing of any declaration with the jurisdictional Central Excise authorities. However, with effect from 5.11.03, said notification was amended vide notification No. 76/2003 dated 5.11.2003 and the following two conditions were added.

"Provided that the exemption contained in this notification shall apply subject to the following conditions, namely:-

(i) The manufacturer who intends to avail of the exemption under this notification shall exercise his option in writing before effecting the first clearance and such option shall be effective from the date of exercise of the option and shall not be withdrawn during the remaining part of the financial year;

(ii) The manufacturer shall, while exercising the option under condition (i), inform in writing to the jurisdictional Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise or Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise, as the case may be, with a copy to the Superintendent of Central Excise giving the following particulars, namely:-