Per V.K. Agrawal :

The issue involved in these two appeals, filed by M/s. Rollatainers Ltd., is whether the benefit of exemption under Notification No. 6/2000-CE, dated 1.3.2000 is available separately to the paper and paper board manufactured by them in their Paper Board Division and Speciality Paper Mills.

2.1 Notification No. 6/2000-CE exempts Paper and Paper-board or articles made therefrom manufactured starting from the stage of pulp, in a factory and such pulp contain less than 75% by weight of pulp made from materials other than bamboo, hardwoods, softwoods, reeds (other than sarkanda) or rags, subject to the condition that the exemption shall apply only to the paper and paper-board cleared for home consumption from a factory -

(a) during the period from 1st March, 2000 to 31st March, 2000, upto first clearances of an aggregate quantity not exceeding 210 Metric Tonnes; and

(b) on or after the 1st day of April, 2000, in any subsequent financial year, upto first clearances of an aggregate quantity not exceeding 2500 Metric Tonnes.

2.2 The Commissioner, under the impugned Order, confirmed the demand of duty and imposed penalty on the Appellants on the ground that paper-board unit and paper unit are parts of a single premises belonging to same company, relying upon the decisions in the case of Grauer Weil (India) Ltd. Vs. CCE, 1994 (5) RLT 85 (SC)=1994 (74) ELT 481 (SC) and Bongaigaon Refinery Petroleum Ltd. Vs. CCE, 1994 (69) ELT 193 (Cal.) and that it is one factory and as such separate exemption to clearances made from Paper Division situated in Shed No. 3 in addition to clearances made from the other parts of the factory was not admissible.

3. Shri A.R. Madhav Rao, learned Advocate, submitted that the Appellants are a company registered under the Companies Act, having number of units engaged in manufacture of excisable goods; that out of these units, two are as under:

(i) Paper Board Division, Shed No. 1, Kundli,

(ii) Specialty Paper Mill, Shed No. 3, Kundli.

He, further, mentioned that in Paper Board Division, they manufacture uncoated Duplex/Triplex Board since 1982; that in the ground plan of the Paper Board Division submitted in 1991, shed No. 3 was shown as waste paper go-down; that in their another factory at Dharuhera, prior to 1998, they were manufacturing paper; that in 1998, they shifted the entire plant and machinery, stock, raw material and staff to Shed No. 3, Kundli; that they filed a revised ground plan which was approved by the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer; that in or around 1999, erection of the plant and machinery shifted from Dharuhera was commenced and in January, 2000, the Board of Directors passed a resolution resolving that Shed No. 3 be made as a separate and independent factory viz. the Specialty Paper Factory; that the Paper factory manufactured specialty paper out of its own pulp making machine; there was no commonality of machinery with Paper Board Division; there was never any commonality of raw materials, storage or use between the Paper Board and Paper manufacturing; that for using the steam boiler by Paper Division, the Paper Board Division raised debit notes; that both Divisions have their separate labour force, separate attendance registers, separate payment sheets, separate machineries, separate pulping section; separate finishing section, office, workshop, laboratory and bonded warehouse; that even the requirement of Wrapping paper by Paper Board Division is met by in house manufacture and as such there was never inter-factory transfer of any wrapping paper. The learned Advocate emphasized that both Paper Board and Paper Divisions have their own entrances and exist; that there is a road from the main gate of the Paper Mill Complex leading to the separate entrance of both the Divisions; that there is a clear passage separating the premises of Paper Board factory from the premises of Paper Factory; that a separate Registration Certificate has been issued for paper factory b