Self-contained exemption notification required assessee to compute base clearance independently; delay could not await revenue determination.

An exemption notification under the Central Excise Rules was treated as self-contained because it itself prescribed the base period, the method for computing base clearance and the conditions for claiming refund. The assessee, using its own records, was required to calculate those figures independently; no prior determination by the revenue was necessary. On that basis, delay in filing the refund claim could not be justified by waiting for an intimation from the department, and the delayed claim was held not maintainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the assessee could treat the date of declaration or revenue determination of the base period and base clearance as the relevant date for claiming refund under Rule 11 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944.

Analysis: The notification granting the exemption was held to be self-contained and not dependent on any determination by the Assistant Collector. It expressly set out the base period, the method of computing base clearance, and the conditions for claiming the concession. The computation was an arithmetic exercise to be carried out by the assessee on the basis of its own clearances. Delay in filing the refund claim could not be excused on the footing that the revenue was required to first make and communicate such determination.

Conclusion: The relevant date was not the date of declaration or revenue intimation. The assessee had to determine the base period and base clearance itself for claiming refund, and the delayed claim was not maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification is self-contained and the assessee can ascertain the base period and base clearance from its own records, the obligation to compute those figures rests on the assessee, and delay in filing a refund claim cannot be justified by awaiting revenue determination.

---