JUSTICE DILIP GUPTA:

M/s. Ashish Enterprises, the appellant has sought the quashing of that portion of the order dated 28.06.2024 passed by the Principal Commissioner, CGST and Central Excise, Bhopal, the Principal Commissioner that confirms the demand of central excise duty under section 11A with interest under section 11AA of the Central Excise Act, 1944 , the Central Excise Act. Penalty has also been imposed upon the appellant under section 11AC of the Central Excise Act and rule 28 of the Central Excise Rules, 2017 , the 2017 Rules

2. The appellant claims that it is engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of “Karamchand” brand Pan Masala and had cleared the goods on payment of appropriate GST and Compensation Cess and the details were duly disclosed in the monthly returns.

3. The appellant further claims that it had earlier decided to venture into manufacture of KC Brand Zafrani Zarda for which it started trial production but the application filed for registration of brand name “KC”, was not registered. The appellant also arranged some old and dilapidated machinery for manufacture of Zarda on sample basis and also purchased raw tobacco and accounted for in its book of acc