The Banglore Bench of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has held that the Kalyan Jewellers is not liable to pay excise duty on non-studded silver articles.
The bench of P.A. Augustian (Judicial Member) and Pullela Nageswara Rao (Technical Member) has observed that there is no evidence to show that such goods are studded with Diamond, Ruby, Emerald or Safire. The goods manufactured by the appellant can be classifiable under CETH 7113 as declared by the appellant since there is no admissible evidence to prove that the goods are studded with diamond, ruby, emerald or sapphire.
The Appellant/assessee, Kalyan Jewellers is engaged in manufacture and sale of gold, diamond and silver jewelry and registered under the service tax law. Based on the intelligence report regarding evasion of excise duty on the goods manufactured and cleared without payment of duty, violating the conditions of exemption notification, etc., proceedings were initiated and on conclusion of the investigation, show cause notice was issued and thereafter Adjudication authority as per the order, confirmed the demand of central excise duty along with interest and also imposed penalties.
The assessee contended that only by alleging failure of the Appellant to produce details of articles of silver jewellery and silver manufactured removed by them, it is held that during the relevant period, the appellant has manufactured and cleared articles of silver jewellery studded with precious stones. Thus the finding regarding classification of the goods as falling under CETH 7114 is unsustainable, since there is no evidence to prove that the goods manufactured by the appellant are articles of silver jewellery, studded with diamond, ruby, emerald or sapphire and in the absence of any finding regarding quantification of duty against goods falling under CETH 7113 and under CETH 7114, separately.
The tribunal held that “it is evident that assesseee has not manufactured any articles of silver jewelry other than those studded with Diamond, Ruby, Emerald or Safire during the impugned period, as they failed to produce the details of the articles of silver jewelry, articles of silver manufactured and removed by them other than the silver jewelery studded with Diamond, Ruby, Emerald or Safire during the impugned period.”
“We find that the above said finding is factually incorrect and unsustainable. Central Excise Tariff Heading 7114 relates to Articles of goldsmiths’ or silversmiths’ wares and parts thereof, of precious metal or of metal clad with precious metal, of precious metal,” the tribunal said.
Case Details
Case Title: Kalyan Jewellers India Pvt Ltd versus Commissioner of Central Tax, Cochin
Case No.: Excise Appeal No. 20695 of 2023
Date: 27.03.2025
Counsel For Appellant: Ravi Raghavan, Mr. Karthik Nair and Mr. Akhil Verghese
Counsel For Respondent: M. A. Jithendra
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