Rule 57H credit: "immediately before" refers to stock of inputs, not the filing date, and credit cannot be denied for delay.

Rule 57H does not impose a filing deadline by the phrase "immediately before"; that wording qualifies the inputs lying in stock, not the date of the declaration. Credit therefore cannot be denied merely because the Rule 57H declaration was filed after the Rule 57G declaration. On the finished-goods issue, entries in the records and payment of duty supported the finding of manufacture, and the absence of a separate raw-material issue entry was not enough to disallow credit. The credit allowed by the Commissioner (Appeals) was sustained.

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Issues: Whether credit under Rule 57H could be denied on the ground that the declaration was not filed immediately before the Rule 57G declaration, and whether credit could be disallowed in respect of finished goods shown as manufactured in March 1998 for want of raw material issue in that month.

Analysis: The expression "immediately before" in Rule 57H was held to qualify the inputs lying in stock and not the filing of the declaration. The rule was read as not prescribing any time limit for filing the application under Rule 57H. On the second point, the finished goods were found to have been entered in the records and duty had been paid on them, and the absence of a separate raw material issue entry was not treated as sufficient to disbelieve manufacture and deny credit.

Conclusion: Credit under Rule 57H could not be denied on the ground of delayed filing, and the credit allowed by the Commissioner (Appeals) was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Under Rule 57H, the words "immediately before" refer to the stock of inputs, not to the date of filing the declaration, and no separate time limit for filing such declaration can be read into the rule.

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