Provisional excise assessment and refund: excess duty may be credited after finalisation, outside Section 11B limitation.

Provisional assessment under the Central Excise Rules permitted finalisation by the proper officer, and excess duty paid on such assessments could be taken in credit or adjusted after final assessment without a separate refund application. Section 11B of the Central Excise Act was stated not to govern credit or adjustment in this setting until the assessment was finally settled. Notification No. 38/96 was noted as prospectively altering that position. On the stated facts, the refund claim was treated as not time barred, and the matter was remitted to determine the date of finalisation and recalculate refund entitlement.

---

---

Issues: Whether refund arising from assessments made on a provisional basis was governed by the limitation under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944, or whether the assessee was entitled to credit or adjustment on finalisation of assessment under the relevant Central Excise Rules.

Analysis: The assessment scheme under Rule 173F, read with Rules 173B, 173C, 173CC, 173I and Rule 9B of the Central Excise Rules, contemplated provisional determination and later finalisation by the proper officer. In that framework, excess duty paid could be taken in credit after final assessment, and a separate refund application was not required for amounts adjustable under the rule. The limitation provision in Section 11B was held not to govern such credit or adjustment until the assessment was finally settled. The later amendment brought by Notification No. 38/96 was noted as altering the position prospectively.

Conclusion: The refund claim was not time barred on the facts of provisional assessment, and the matter was rightly remitted to ascertain the date of finalisation and re-determine refund entitlement. The finding was in favour of the assessee.

---