Retrospective validation of excise proceedings defeated the challenge to a show cause notice after rule substitution.

Retrospective insertion of the validating provision in the Central Excise Act, 1944 cured the objection that a show cause notice issued under Rule 57U(2) lacked a saving clause after substitution of the rule. Pending proceedings were covered by Section 38A, so the challenge to the notice no longer survived and the petition was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the challenge to the show cause notice survived after insertion of the validating provision in the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Analysis: The petition attacked a show cause notice issued under Rule 57U(2) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 on the footing that the rule had been substituted without a saving clause. The later insertion of Section 38A into the Central Excise Act, 1944 by the Finance Act, 2001 with retrospective effect, together with the validating provision, covered pending proceedings and removed the basis of the challenge.

Conclusion: The challenge did not survive and the petition was rejected.

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