Commissioner of Central Excise, Mumbai v. GTC Industries Ltd.
2006-11-15
ASHOK BHAN, DALVEER BHANDARI
body2006
DigiLaw.ai
ORDER : 1. Delay condoned. 2. This appeal under Section 35-L(b) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 is directed against the final order No. A/12/WZB/2005/CI dated 4.1.2005 passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, West Regional Bench at Mumbai (for short 'the Tribunal') in Appeal No. E/1873/99-Mum. whereby the Tribunal has upheld the order passed by the Commissioner(Appeals) and that of the authority in original relying upon a decision of two Member Bench of the Tribunal in Gabriel India Limited v. Collector of Central Excise, New Delhi, reported in 1999 (106) ELT 167. The Tribunal has not recorded its own findings on merits. 3. In Gabriel India Limited (supra), the Tribunal, relying upon another judgment of the two Member Bench of the Tribunal in CCE, Patna v. Sumitan Electro Powers (P) Ltd., reported in 1996 (88) ELT 453, held that the addition of profit is not applicable when the unit is incurring losses. It was observed: ".....With regard to the appellant's submission that notional profit was not to be added in the assessable value, we find that the addition at 10% has been made. The appellant had submitted in the adjudication proceedings that he was incurring losses from year to year. The aforesaid case law relied upon by the appellant also confirms that no addition towards profit is to be made in case of assesses incurring losses. The submission of the appellant against addition of notional profit is therefore, required to be reconsidered by the adjudicating authority after going into the relevant data regarding profits, to be submitted by the appellant. Accordingly, the appellant succeeds on this ground of valuation. The case is remanded for reconsideration on the question of valuation. Ordered accordingly." 4. Shri K.Radhakrishnan, learned senior advocate appearing for the revenue, has brought to our notice that the authority in original, relying upon a three Member Bench of the Tribunal in West Coast Paper Mills Ltd. v. Collector of Central Excise, Belgaum, reported in 1996 (81) ELT 403 (Tribunal), had held that profit is required to be added to the captively consumed goods by a company and that the Tribunal has failed to take note of the same. We find substance in the submission.
We find substance in the submission. In West Coast Paper Mills Ltd.(supra), the Tribunal has held as under: "On a careful consideration of the submissions made by both parties, we find that Rule 6(b) of Valuation Rules requires that when excisable goods produced by a manufacturer are not sold but are captively consumed by him and when value of comparable goods is not available, the value of goods captively consumed should be determined on the basis of cost of production or manufacture, "including profits, if any, which the assessee would have normally earned on the sale of such goods." If an assessee has normally been making profit but in one particular year incurs loss due to some reasons, it cannot be inferred therefrom that the assessee would have normally sold his goods without profit or at loss. Normally speaking, no businessman would like to sell his goods without adding a reasonable margin of profit. The Tribunal held in Appollo Zipper Co. v. Collector of Central Excise -1987 (29) ELT 126 that it is this normal margin of profit which is required to be added to the cost of production under Rule 6(b), irrespective of the fact that during an exceptional period the assessee's financial results actually showed some loss. The Tribunal in that case further approved the percentage of margin of profit added by the Assistant Collector based on actual profit earned by the appellants therein during the previous year. In the present case also the Assistant Collector's decision on valuation of the captively consumed wrapper paper is based on the manufacturing cost of wrapping paper as per Chartered Accountant Certificate produced by the appellants and the manufacturing profit of the said paper as per the Balance-sheet of the Company for the year ending 30.6.1981. Therefore, there is no reason to interfere with the impugned order upholding the Assistant Collector's decision on valuation of wrapper paper captively consumed under Rule 6(b)(ii) of Valuation Rules. The appeal is accordingly rejected." 5. In view of the fact that the Tribunal has failed to take note of the decision of the three Member Bench in West Coast Paper Mills Ltd.(supra), this appeal is accepted, the impugned order of the Tribunal is set aside and the case is remitted to the Tribunal for a fresh decision in accordance with law. All contentions are left open. There shall be no order as to costs.