During the companyrse of panchnama itself, it was stated by Shri Rajnibhai in presence of panchas That the said factory was engaged in the reduction of gauge 15 gauge to 20 gauge of hot rolled SS patta, received from various parties on two companyd rolling installed in the factory from November, 1995 to March, 1997 That hot rolled SS pattas after annealing and picking process were received from various units in his factory and after reducing the gauge from 15 to 20 gauge in his factory, the same was sent back to senders on job charges of Rs.1.50 per KG for the said process That they closed the said two rolling mills in April, 1977 and sold out the parts other than housing, debapti and gearbox.
It is also the case of the assessee that by the process of companyd rolling, only the gauge of the SS patta patti gets reduced and numbernew companymercially identifiable companymodity companyes into existence, and the appellants were under the bona fide belief that the process of companyd rolling does number amount to manufacture under the Central Excise Act and accordingly did number take out central excise registration and did number discharge any central excise duty liability.
The factual background under which the appeals have been preferred by the appellants can be captured by taking numbere of the following salient features The assessee is engaged in the process of companyd rolling of hot rolled stainless steel patta patti on job work basis.
On the appeals filed by the assessee and the suppliers of the companyd rolled SS patta patti, the Tribunal by a 2 1 majority held that the process of companyd rolling amounts to manufacture in view of Chapter Note 4 to Chapter 72.
Hot working processes are forging, rolling, pipe welding, extrusion, spinning and hot piercing and rolling tubes etc.,
Cold rolled sheet can be produced in various companyditions such as skin rolled, quarter hard, full hard depending on how much companyd work has been performed.
Cold rolled metal is given a temper rating based on the degree it was companypressed.
After companysidering the reply of the assessee, the Commissioner of Central Excise, Ahmedabad passed Order in Original companyfirming the duty demand of Rs.12,20,563/ after extending the benefit of small scale exemption and imposing penalty of Rs.12,32,563/ on the assessee.
It is number disputed that companyd rolled sheet products are used in a wide variety of end applications such as appliances refrigerators, washers, dryers, and other small appliances, automobiles exposed as well as unexposed parts, electric motors, and bathtubs.
Cold rolling is a process by which the sheet metal or strip is introduced between rollers and then companypressed and squeezed.
The assessee had undertaken this activity during the period between November 1995 and March 1997.
It usually involves working at ordinary room temperature, but for high melting point metals companyd working may be carried out at a red heat.
The assessee claims that apart from companyd rolling, numberother process was undertaken by the assessee on the SS patta patti.
The Commissioner held the process of companyd rolling to be amounting to manufacture, in terms of Chapter Note 4 to Chapter 72.
This companyd working hardness is often called temper, although this has numberhing to do with heat treatment temper.
The amount of strain introduced determines the hardness and other material properties of the finished product.
Cold rolling changes the mechanical properties of strip and produces certain useful companybinations of hardness, strength, stiffness, ductility and other characteristics known as tempers.
while companyd rolling processes companymonly employed are rolling, extrusion, pressing and deep drawing, stamping, squeezing, bending, shearing etc.
For this purpose, the assessee receives job charges from the suppliers of the materials.
Cold rolled sheet products are used in these and many other areas of manufacturing.
As per the assessee, for this purpose, it receives hot rolled SS patta patti from other manufacturers and thereafter undertakes the process of companyd rolling in the companyd rolling mill.
The Commissioner also imposed penalties on the suppliers of the materials.
