Excise credit utilisation under a general circular upheld for payment of additional duties of excise.

Credit of basic excise duty could be used to pay additional duties of excise where the Board circular was of general application. The Tribunal treated the circular as laying down a broader principle that credit of specified duties taken on inputs may be utilised for payment of any specified duty on the final products, and held that a reference to one notification did not confine the circular to that notification alone. It distinguished the Revenue's cited High Court decision as involving a circular meant for a specific situation, not one of general import. The Revenue's challenge therefore failed, and utilisation of credit was upheld.

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Issues: Whether credit of basic excise duty could be utilised for payment of additional duties of excise under the relevant exemption/circular framework.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the scope of the Board circular and whether its reference to a particular notification confined the principle only to that notification. The Tribunal noted that the earlier decision in the assessee's own case had already construed the circular as laying down a general principle that credit of specified duties taken on inputs may be utilised for payment of any one of the specified duties on the final products. The Revenue's reliance on a different High Court decision was held to be inapposite because that case concerned a circular issued for a specific situation being pressed into general application, whereas the circular here was of general import.

Conclusion: Credit of basic excise duty was held to be utilizable for payment of additional duties of excise, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a Board circular is general in its application, credit of specified duties may be utilised for payment of any specified duty, and a reference to one notification does not confine the circular to that notification alone.

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