CENVAT credit on scrap clearance upheld where prior assessee-specific ruling on the same issue remained unstayed.

On clearance of scrap arising from rejected BOPP films, the Tribunal held that the assessee was not required to reverse proportionate CENVAT credit under Rule 16(2) where duty had been paid through the procedure already accepted in its own earlier case. As the same legal question for an earlier period had been decided in the assessee's favour and that order had not been stayed by the High Court, the Tribunal followed the earlier view for the later period. The Revenue's challenge was rejected and the duty-paid clearance procedure was upheld.

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Issues: Whether the respondent was required to reverse the proportionate cenvat credit under Rule 16(2) of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 on clearance of scrap arising from rejected BOPP films, or whether the duty-paid clearance procedure adopted by the respondent was correct.

Analysis: The Tribunal noted that the same issue had already been decided in the respondent's own case for an earlier period and that the earlier order had not been stayed by the High Court. Since the present dispute involved the same legal question and only a different period, the earlier view was followed. The Tribunal therefore accepted that the procedure adopted for payment of duty on the scrap was correct.

Conclusion: The respondent was not required to reverse the proportionate cenvat credit under Rule 16(2) in the manner contended by the Revenue, and the Revenue's appeal failed.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order in favour of the respondent was sustained and the Revenue's challenge was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the same issue has already been decided in the assessee's own case and the earlier decision has not been stayed, that decision should be followed for a subsequent period involving the same legal question.

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