15. Confiscation and penalty.-

(1) If any person, takes CENVAT credit in respect of input or capital goods, wrongly or without taking reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate duty on the said input or capital goods has been paid as indicated in the document accompanying the input or capital goods specified in rule 9, or contravenes any of the provisions of these rules in respect of any input or capital goods, then, all such goods shall be liable to confiscation and such person, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding the duty on the excisable goods in respect of which any contravention has been committed, or ten thousand rupees, whichever is greater.

(2) In a case, where the CENVAT credit in respect of input or capital goods has been taken or utilized wrongly on account of fraud, willful mis-statement, collusion or suppression of facts, or contravention of any of the provisions of the Excise Act or the rules made thereunder with intention to evade payment of duty, then, the manufacturer shall also be liable to pay penalty in terms of the provisions of section 11AC of the Excise Act.

(3) If any person, takes CENVAT credit in respect of input services, wrongly or without taking reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate service tax on the said input services has been paid as indicated in the document accompanying the input services specified in rule 9, or contravenes any of the provisions of these rules in respect of any input service, then, such person, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to an amount not exceeding ten thousand rupees.

(4) In a case, where the CENVAT credit in respect of input services has been taken or utilized wrongly by reason of fraud, collusion, willful mis-statement, suppression of facts, or contravention of any of the provisions of the Finance Act or of the rules made thereunder with intention to evade payment of service tax, then, the provider of output service shall also be liable to pay penalty in terms of the provisions of section 78 of the Finance Act.

(5) Any order under sub-rule (1), sub-rule (2), sub-rule (3) or sub-rule (4) shall be issued by the Central Excise Officer following the principles of natural justice.