Limited legal fiction under excise rules does not extend refund of unutilised Modvat credit to a merchant-exporter.

A legal fiction treating a merchant-exporter as a deemed manufacturer under Notification No. 27/92-C.E. (N.T.) was confined to the procedural requirements of Rule 174 and could not be extended to Rule 57F(4). Refund of unutilised Modvat credit under Rule 57F(4) was available only to the manufacturer who had actually availed the credit, and it was distinct from rebate of duty on exported goods. On that basis, a merchant-exporter was not entitled to refund of unutilised Modvat credit, and the Revenue's challenge succeeded.

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Issues: Whether a merchant-exporter treated as a deemed manufacturer under Notification No. 27/92-C.E. (N.T.) could claim refund of unutilised Modvat credit under Rule 57F(4) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944.

Analysis: The notification created a legal fiction treating merchant-exporters as deemed manufacturers only for the limited purpose of the procedural requirements under Rule 174 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944. That fiction could not be extended to Rule 57F(4), which permits refund only to the manufacturer who actually availed the Modvat credit. The refund of unutilised credit in the RG 23A and related records was distinct from rebate of duty on exported goods, and the authorities and precedents relied upon by the respondent did not support granting such refund to a merchant-exporter.

Conclusion: The merchant-exporter was not entitled to refund of unutilised Modvat credit under Rule 57F(4), and the Revenue's appeal succeeded.

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