ORDER
Jyoti Balasundaram, Member (J)
1. Arguing on the application for waiver of predeposit of duty of Rs. 20,20,103/- confirmed as a result of denial of the benefit of concessional rate of duty of customs under Notification No. 13/97 which is inter alia applicable for specified inputs used in the manufacture of specified final products on the ground that the applicants did not use raw materials such as Copper Foil, Epoxy Resins etc., in the manufacture of copper clad laminatesand penalty of amount equal to duty, Id. Counsel Shri R. Ravindran raises a preliminary objection as to the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Customs to raise the demand in the show cause notice and confirmed in the adjudication order. He draws our attention to Customs ( Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty for Manufacture of Excisable Goods) Rules 1996 under which the demand has been raised and submits that Rule 8 of the above Rules makes it very clear that the differential duty demand can be raised only by the Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise while in the present case the notice has been issued by the Commissioner of Customs who has adjudicated the same. He also advanced arguments on the merits of the case by submitting inter alia that Prepregs and unclad laminates are waste and scrap arising in the course of manufacture of copper clad laminates and therefore it cannot be disputed that imported inputs were used for the manufacture of copper clad laminates, hence satisfying the requirement of Notification No. 13/97 prescribing concessional rate of duty.
2. The prayer for waiver is opposed by Ld. DR who contends that the applicants have not made out a case on merits as prepregs and unclad laminates are neither in the nature of waste or scrap but are separate distinct excisable goods and therefore the imported inputs cannot be held to have been used for the manufacture of specified final product and therefore duty demand has been rightly raised and confirmed on that quantity of the imported inputs not used for manufacture of copper clad laminates, but used for Epoxy prepregs and unclad industrial laminates.
3. We have carefully considered the rival submissions and find prima force in the plea of, jurisdiction in the face of the language of Rule 8 of the Customs (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty for Manufacture of Excisable Goods) Rules, 1996. We, therefore, waive the predeposit of duty and penalty and stay recovery thereof pending the appeal.