Penalty under section 11AC-duty paid before SCN-Board seeks details in a strange letter
Board has recently come to know about the Supreme Court dismissing the departmental appeal against the Tribunal’s decision in the case of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd holding that no penalty is imposable and interest leviable if the duty has been paid before the issue of the Show Cause Notice.
Board has also realized that in a number of cases, appellate authorities have held that penalty imposed under section 11AC is not mandatory and that Appellate Authority is competent to reduce the penalty depending on the case.
An apparently perturbed Board has asked the field to furnish information on the number of cases where appeal is pending, amount involved and the appellate authority before whom appeal is filed regarding these two issues.
Maybe something is cooking and the Board wants to act after a good three years; but what is strange about this letter?
The letter is dated 30th May 2007 and the Board wants the field to treat this as most urgent and the report should reach the Board latest by 20 November 2006 – a full six months before the Board even asked for the information!
Board realized the problem after three years of the Supreme Court order and then somebody decided to take action and maybe the file got stuck in the red tape and suddenly somebody found it and decided to call for particulars but forgot to change the date!
Board’s F.No. dated May 30, 2007