PerS.L. Peeran :

All these appeals arise from a common Order-in-Original No. 20/2000 dated 24.11.2000 by which the Commissioner of Central Excise, Hyderabad has passed the final order in para-27 as follows:-

ORDER

(i) All the four units namely, ARPL, TMTTPL, MR and RE shall be treated as one entity and the value of clearances of all the units shall be clubbed for the period from 1995 to November, 1999 for arriving at the aggregate value of clearances for payment of Central Excise Duty and the benefits of Notification Nos. 1/93, 16/97, 8/98 and 8/99 are denied to ARPL, TMTTPL, MR and RE for the period from 1995 to November, 1999.

(ii) An amount of duty of Rs. 6,25,000/- shall be paid by M/s. Agarwal Rubber (P) Ltd., Patancheru being the Central Excise Duty short paid by them during the year 1996-97 in terms of proviso to Section 11A (1) of Central Excise Act, 1944.

(iii) An amount of penalty of Rs. 6,56,250/- shall be paid by M/s. Agarwal Rubber Pvt. Ltd. under Section 11AC of Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Rule 173-Q of Central Excise Rules, 1944 as discussed in para (22) supra.

(iv) Interest @ 24% per annum on the duty determined as above at (ii) shall be paid by M/s. Agarwal Rubber (P) Ltd. under Section 11AB vide Notification No. 8/2000-C.E. (N.T.), dt. 1.3.2000.

(v) An amount of duty of Rs. 54,38,792/- shall be paid by M/s. TM Tyres and Tubes Pvt. Ltd., Kallakal Village being the Central Excise Duty short paid by them during the period from 1997-98 to 1999-2000 (upto 11/99) in terms of proviso to Section 11A (1) of Central Excise Act, 1944.

(vi) An amount of penalty of Rs. 57,10,732/- shall be paid by M/s. TM Tyres and Tubes Pvt. Ltd. under Section 11AC of Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Rule 173-Q of Central Excise Rules, 1944 as discussed in para (22) supra.

(vii) Interest @ 24% per annum on the duty determined as above at (v) shall be paid by M/s. TM Tyres and Tubes Pvt. Ltd. under Section 11AB vide Notification No. 8/2000-C.E. (N.T.), dt. 1.3.2000.

(viii) An amount of duty of Rs. 22,48,460/- shall be paid by M/s. Maruti Rubbers, Patancheru being the Central Excise Duty not paid by them during the period from 1995-96 to 1999-2000 (up to November, 1999) in terms of proviso to Section 11A (1) of Central Excise Act, 1944.

(ix) An amount of penalty of Rs. 23,60,883/- shall be paid by M/s. Maruti Rubbers under Section 11AC of Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Rule 173-Q of Central Excise Rules, 1944 as discussed in para (22) supra.

(x) Interest @ 24% per annum on the duty determined as above at (viii) shall be paid by M/s. Maruti Rubbers under Section 11AB vide Notification No. 8/2000-C.E. (N.T.), dt. 1.3.2000.

(xi) An amount of duty of Rs. 8,92,263/- shall be paid by M/s. Robot Engineering, Patancheru being the Central Excise Duty not paid by them during the period from 1995-96 to 1999-2000 (upto November, 1999) in terms of proviso to Section 11A (1) of Central Excise Act, 1944.

(xii) An amount of penalty of Rs. 9,36,876/- shall be paid by M/s. Robot Engineering under Section 11AC of Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Rule 173-Q of Central Excise Rules, 1944 as discussed in para (22) supra.

(xiii) Interest @ 24% per annum on the duty determined as above at (xi) shall be paid by M/s. Robot Engineering under Section 11AB vide Notification No. 8/2000-C.E. (N.T.), dt. 1.3.2000.

(xiv) An amount of penalty of Rs. 2,00,000/- (Rupees two lakhs only) is imposed on Shri Deendayal Agarwal, Managing Director of ARPL under Rule 209 (A) of Central Excise Rules, 1944.

(xv) An amount of penalty of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh only) is imposed on Shri Ashok Kumar Agarwal, Director of ARPL under Rule 209 (A) of Central Excise Rules, 1944.

2. Ld. Counsel Shri B.V. Kumar arguing for the appellants points out to the gist of show cause notice which has been extracted in paras-3 to 7 and submits that in terms of these paragraphs, the show cause notice demands independent duties from each of the units at the same time alleging that all the four unit