Provisional assessment of duty can arise during pending classification or price list approval, even without Rule 9B compliance.

Duty paid while a classification list or price list remains pending approval may be treated as provisional by operation of law, even if the formal procedure under Rule 9B of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 was not followed. The article explains that Samrat International was understood to support this position, because self-assessed duty during the pendency of approval was provisional. Coastal Gases did not narrow that principle; it only reflected the factual inability in that case to prove provisional payment on the record. The controlling view is that strict compliance with Rule 9B is not essential where payment is made pending finalisation of the relevant list.

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Issues: Whether clearance of goods and payment of duty pending finalisation of the classification list or price list could be treated as provisional assessment even without compliance with Rule 9B of the Central Excise Rules, 1944.

Analysis: Rule 9B lays down the formal procedure for provisional assessment and, where that procedure is followed, the duty payment is unquestionably provisional. The decision in Samrat International was read as holding that, during the period between filing and approval of the classification list, the duty paid on self-assessment was provisional notwithstanding the absence of strict compliance with Rule 9B. The later decision in Coastal Gases did not dilute that principle; it only dealt with the factual inability to establish provisional payment on the record in that case. The controlling principle is that duty paid during the pendency of approval of the classification or price list may itself be provisional by operation of law, even if the Rule 9B procedure was not followed.

Conclusion: Yes. Such payments can be treated as provisional even dehors Rule 9B, and the contrary view requiring proof of compliance with Rule 9B is not correct for payments made pending finalisation of the classification list or price list.

Ratio Decidendi: Duty paid pending finalisation of a classification list or price list may be provisional even without strict compliance with Rule 9B of the Central Excise Rules, 1944.

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