Inox Air Products Pvt. Ltd. Vs Commissioner of GST & Central Excise (CESTAT Chennai)
Summary: The common order of the CESTAT, Chennai concerned two appeals arising from Order-in-Appeal No. 436/2017 (CTA-I) dated 06.12.2017 and Order-in-Appeal Nos. 314 & 315/2018 dated 22.06.2018 passed by the Commissioner of GST & Central Excise (Appeals-I), Chennai. The appellant manufactured various gases, including Oxygen, Nitrogen and Medical Oxygen, classifiable under Chapter 28 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. It cleared Nitrous Oxide under sub-heading 28112930 to both manufacturers and traders while availing the concessional rate under Sl. No. 17 of Notification No. 2/2011-CE dated 01.03.2011, which covered “Anaesthetics” falling under Chapters 28, 29 or 30. TaxGuru has separately reported the broader changes made to Notification No. 2/2011-CE in subsequent years. Notification No. 2/2011-CE
The Department alleged that Nitrous Oxide had multiple uses and that the appellant had not established that quantities cleared to traders were used only as anaesthetics. Differential duty demands of Rs.31,22,225/-, Rs.10,47,816/- and Rs.2,09,084/- were raised for April 2011-December 2015, January 2016-March 2017 and April 2017-June 2017 respectively, together with interest and penalties. The adjudicating authority confirmed the demands, with penalties under Section 11AC of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and Rule 25 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002, and the Commissioner (Appeals) upheld the orders.
