Prospective application of credit-utilisation restriction under excise notification held inapplicable to pre-commencement duty payments.

Restriction on utilisation of credit under Notification No. 48/2000-C.E. (N.T.) was treated as prospective because it came into force only on 18 August 2000. The dispute concerned duty payments made before that date, and the earlier Tribunal view accepted that such utilisation remained permissible for pre-commencement transactions. Applying the settled rule that an amendment cannot govern completed transactions unless expressly retrospective, the restriction was held inapplicable to the payments in question, while the lower authorities' order was upheld and the appeal failed.

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Issues: Whether the restriction on utilisation of credit introduced by Notification No. 48/2000-C.E. (N.T.) dated 18th August, 2000 applied to duty payments made before its commencement.

Analysis: The amendment restricting utilisation of credit to amounts available up to the fifteenth day of a month and up to the last day of a month for the respective fortnights came into force only from 18 August 2000. The dispute related to duty payments made prior to that date, and the earlier view treating such utilisation as permissible had already been accepted by the Tribunal in a previous decision. A later amendment cannot be applied to transactions completed before its effective date.

Conclusion: The restriction was held to be prospective and inapplicable to the payments in question. The order of the lower authorities was upheld and the appeal failed.

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