Additional legal grounds on non-manufacture may be raised later, and the duty dispute was remanded for fresh adjudication.

A legal plea based on subsequent judicial pronouncements can be raised even if not taken earlier, because a declaration of law applies to all relevant periods. The Tribunal held that the proposed additional grounds on non-manufacture were purely legal and directly relevant to the duty demand arising from enamelling activity. As those later decisions had not been examined by the adjudicating authority, the matter required fresh consideration. The miscellaneous application for additional grounds was allowed, the impugned order was set aside, and the dispute was remanded for fresh adjudication on whether the activity amounted to manufacture.

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Issues: Whether the appellant could be permitted to raise additional legal grounds challenging the duty demand on the plea that the enamelling activity did not amount to manufacture, and whether the matter should be remanded for reconsideration.

Analysis: The Tribunal held that a legal plea based on subsequent judicial pronouncements could be raised even if it had not been taken earlier, because a declaration of law is treated as the correct law for all relevant periods. It found that the grounds sought to be added were purely legal in nature and that the cited decisions, though not available before the adjudicating authority, were relevant to the issue of manufacture. Since those decisions had not been considered earlier, the adjudication required fresh examination.

Conclusion: The Miscellaneous Application for raising additional grounds was allowed, the impugned order was set aside, and the matter was remanded for fresh adjudication on the plea of non-manufacture.

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