Fresh disclosure for settlement depends on prior disclosure status; later-period application proceeded, earlier one was rejected.

Fresh disclosure under settlement provisions depends on whether the liability had already been conclusively disclosed to the jurisdictional officer. For the period before the Tribunal ruling, the assessee had not earlier challenged the capacity-based duty fixed under Section 3A and Rule 96ZO, so the application was not treated as a fresh disclosure and was rejected. For the later period, the post-ruling legal uncertainty meant the disclosure was treated as fresh for settlement purposes, so that application was allowed to proceed. Settlement was thus confined to the later-period application, with exclusive jurisdiction retained over the admitted matter.

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Issues: (i) whether the settlement application relating to the period prior to the change in law disclosed a fresh liability so as to satisfy the requirement of disclosure under the settlement provisions; and (ii) whether the settlement application relating to the later period could be allowed to proceed.

Issue (i): whether the settlement application relating to the period prior to the change in law disclosed a fresh liability so as to satisfy the requirement of disclosure under the settlement provisions.

Analysis: The relevant duty was governed by the capacity-based levy under Section 3A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Rule 96ZO of the Central Excise Rules, 1944. The earlier Tribunal decision had created room for seeking re-determination of duty on actual production, but that uncertainty arose only after that ruling. For the period covered by the first application, which was prior to that decision, the assessee had never questioned the capacity fixed by the Commissioner. The disclosure made in the settlement application was therefore not treated as a disclosure of a liability not already known to the jurisdictional officer.

Conclusion: The first settlement application did not satisfy the requirement of fresh disclosure and was rejected.

Issue (ii): whether the settlement application relating to the later period could be allowed to proceed.

Analysis: For the later period, the same uncertainty identified above was held to justify treating the disclosure as fresh for settlement purposes. Since the later application related to a period after the Tribunal ruling, the application was held maintainable under the settlement scheme.

Conclusion: The second settlement application was allowed to proceed.

Final Conclusion: The order granted settlement only for the later-period application, rejected the earlier one, and left the Commission with exclusive jurisdiction over the admitted matter that was permitted to proceed.

Ratio Decidendi: A disclosure will qualify as fresh for settlement purposes only when, in the light of the prevailing legal uncertainty for the relevant period, it can be said that the liability had not earlier been conclusively disclosed to the jurisdictional officer.

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