Commissioner of Central Excise Vs. Jaypee Advertisers Pvt. Ltd.

1. in this appeal, the revenue has questioned the correctness of the impugned order in appeal passed by the commissioner (appeals), central excise in respect of reduction of penalty amount from rs. 6200/ to rs. 2128/ (inclusive of interest).the learned jdr has contended that penalty as imposed by the adjudicating authority, could not be reduced by the commissioner (appeals) for want of any sufficient cause brought on record.therefore, the penalty imposed by the adjudicating authority deserves to be restored.3. but in my view, this contention of the learned jdr cannot be accepted. the perusal of the record shows that service tax for the month of december, 2001, was filed by the respondents in time but the service tax amount was not deposited within the stipulated period. it was deposited 62 days later but along with interest of rs. 2128/ . the commissioner (appeals) while reducing the penalty, had accepted that the cause of delay in deposit of the tax amount, as pleaded by shri surinder singh, director of the respondents company, was the demise of his father, as he could not attend the office and make the necessary deposit in time. no illegality has been committed by the commissioner (appeals) in accepting this cause especially when the entire tax amount for the disputed period, has been paid by the respondents company with interest. the impugned order passed by him reducing the penalty, therefore, does not suffer from any illegality so as to call for interference and the same is upheld. the appeal of the revenue is dismissed.