Show cause notice defects determine limitation; the first valid notice controlled the short-levy demand and penalty relief.

A show cause notice for short levy must disclose the precise statutory basis, differential duty and supporting material; a materially vague and defective notice is not the valid notice for limitation. Because the original notice lacked these particulars and the revised notice first properly set out the allegations and evidence, the six-month limitation period ran from the revised notice dated 7-3-1981. The demand was therefore confined to that period, extended limitation was not established, and no penalty was sustained. The revenue challenge failed and the order was upheld.

---

---

Issues: Whether the revised show cause notice dated 7-3-1981 was only a continuation of the earlier notice dated 20-11-1980 for the purpose of limitation, and whether the demand could therefore be limited only to six months from the earlier notice.

Analysis: The original notice was held to be defective in material particulars. It did not specify the precise provision invoked, the exact amount of differential duty, the Chemical Examiner's report was not furnished, and the allegations as to end use were stated only in vague terms. The revised notice, issued later, set out the allegations and supporting material in a proper manner and therefore constituted the valid notice to be met in law. In the absence of any case for extended limitation, the six-month period had to be reckoned from the revised notice.

Conclusion: The demand was rightly restricted to six months from 7-3-1981, and the penalty was also rightly waived. The revenue appeal failed.

Final Conclusion: The order under challenge was upheld, with the demand confined to the period computed from the revised show cause notice and no penalty sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A show cause notice for short levy must contain the material particulars and supporting basis of the demand; if the initial notice is materially vague and defective, limitation runs from the first valid notice, not from the earlier defective one.

---