Final customs assessment bars excise reclassification and withdrawal of proforma credit under Rule 56A.

Where imported raw materials had already been assessed by Customs to countervailing duty under Item 15A and the assessee had accepted that classification, Central Excise authorities could not later reopen the same classification to deny proforma credit under Rule 56A. The attempt to treat the goods as chemicals rather than resins amounted to questioning a final customs assessment, which the excise authorities had no jurisdiction to do. As the foundational assessment was not challenged or set aside, the consequential order withdrawing credit and directing re-credit could not be sustained, and restoration of the credit followed.

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Issues: Whether the Central Excise authorities could withdraw the assessee's proforma credit under Rule 56A and require re-credit of the amount on the ground that the imported raw materials were not resins but chemicals, when the Customs authorities had assessed the goods to countervailing duty under Item 15A and the assessee had acquiesced in that assessment.

Analysis: The imported polyesters and polyether had been assessed by the Customs authorities at Bombay to countervailing duty under Item 15A of the Central Excise Tariff Schedule, and the assessee had availed of the proforma credit facility on that basis. The later attempt by the Central Excise authorities at Hyderabad to treat the same goods as not falling under Item 15A and to withdraw the credit amounted to reopening an assessment that had already become final. Since the assessee had not challenged the customs assessment or sought refund, the excise authorities could not sit in judgment over the customs classification and re-assess the goods for the purpose of denying the credit. Once the foundational assessment was accepted as final, the consequential demand for re-credit could not stand.

Conclusion: The withdrawal of proforma credit and the direction to re-credit the amount were without jurisdiction, and the assessee was entitled to restoration of the credit.

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