Judgment:
1. This is an application filed by M/s Insultek Engineers (P) Ltd., for waiver of pre-deposit of Central Excise duty amounting to Rs. 3,00,862.00 and penalty of Rs. 25,000.00 confirmed by the Commissioner (Appeals) under the impugned order. Shri A.K. Roy, Managing Director of the applicants appeared for hearing and submitted that they manufacture Air Dryers and avail of Modvat credit of the duty paid on inputs under Rule 57A of the Central Excise Rules; that the Assistant Commissioner confirmed the demand on the ground that they had removed the inputs as such under Rule 57F(1)(ii). He further submitted that they have not cleared the inputs as such; that what they had cleared was parts of Air Dryer; that Air Dryer is generally a huge equipment and it is impossible to transport the same in one truck and the equipment had to be transported piecemeal in different trucks; that the Air Dryer is finally assembled and installed at the customers' premises; that accordingly they had paid the duty correctly. Finally he submitted that their financial condition is very bad as the factory is closed and the entire manufacturing activity has come to a standstill.
2. Opposing the prayer, Shri M.P. Singh, ld. DR submitted that the Commissioner (Appeals) under the impugned order has dismissed the appeal for non-compliance of that the stay order in which the applicants were directed to deposit Rs. 3 lakhs; that the Commissioner (Appeals) fixed four personal hearings which were also not attended by the applicants. He, therefore, mentioned that they should be directed to deposit the duty amount under Section 35F of the Central Excise Act.
3. We have considered the submissions of both the sides. As pointed out by the ld. DR, the Commissioner (Appeals) has dismissed their appeal for non-compliance with the stay order and without going into the merits of the matter. Though the applicants have not produced the balance sheet in support of their contention that they have incurred heavy losses, considering their plea of extreme financial hardships, we direct them to deposit Rs. 1 lakh within 12 weeks from today. On compliance with this direction, there will be waiver of requirement of pre-deposit of the remaining amount of duty and the entire amount of penalty and the recovery of the same will remain stayed during the pendency of the appeal. If the applicants fail to comply with this direction of pre-deposit, their appeal will be liable to be dismissed without any further notice. The matter will come up for reporting compliance on 17-09-2001.