Redetermination of production capacity under excise law bars recovery on a set-aside duty demand until fresh assessment is completed.

Where the appellate tribunal has set aside the earlier determination of annual production capacity and remitted the matter for fresh redetermination under Section 3A(4) of the Central Excise Act, the prior duty demand does not survive until the revised determination is made. Revenue cannot insist on payment on the basis of the set-aside order, and coercive recovery is not justified while the competent authority remains to complete the redetermination. The authority was directed to finish the fresh determination within three months, and enforcement of the earlier demand was restrained in the meantime.

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Issues: Whether the competent authority was required to redetermine the actual production under Section 3A(4) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, and whether the revenue could insist on payment of duty on the basis of the earlier determination pending such redetermination.

Analysis: The earlier determination of annual production capacity and the duty payable had already been set aside by the appellate tribunal, and the matter stood remitted for fresh determination under Section 3A(4). Since the revised determination had not yet been made, the earlier demand could not be treated as subsisting. In these circumstances, the respondents could not insist upon payment of duty on the basis of the set-aside order, and coercive recovery was not justified until the authority complied with the tribunal's direction.

Conclusion: The authority was directed to complete the redetermination under Section 3A(4) within three months, and the respondents were restrained from enforcing the earlier duty determination meanwhile.

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