Approved classification list cannot be reopened retrospectively by show cause notice under excise procedure.

A classification list approved by the excise authority could not be reopened or disapproved retrospectively through a later show cause notice for the same period. The court distinguished provisional assessment under Rule 9B from approval of a classification list under Rule 173B, and treated an approved list as having binding status for the period covered. Any dispute over classification had to be taken forward under some other statutory power, not by issuing a notice to withdraw the earlier approval. The impugned notice was therefore invalid and liable to be quashed.

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Issues: Whether a show cause notice could reopen and withdraw approval already granted to a classification list for the same period under the Central Excise Rules.

Analysis: A classification list had earlier been filed, examined and approved by the proper excise authority. The judgment distinguishes provisional assessment under Rule 9B from approval of a classification list under Rule 173B, and holds that once approval has been granted the list attains the status of an approved list. On that basis, the authorities could not, by a later notice, disapprove the same classification for a period already covered by the approval. Any challenge to the classification would have to proceed under some other statutory power, not by reopening the approved list through the impugned notice.

Conclusion: The show cause notice was invalid and liable to be quashed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded because the excise authorities could not reopen an already approved classification list by issuing the impugned notice.

Ratio Decidendi: Once a classification list has been duly approved under the excise procedure, it cannot be withdrawn or disapproved retrospectively through a fresh show cause notice for the same period; provisional assessment provisions do not govern such approved lists.

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