Job-work steel rounds already duty-paid under compounded levy could not be charged again; Notification No. 214/86 was immaterial.

Steel rounds manufactured on a job-work basis from billets supplied by the principal manufacturer were treated as not again liable to duty where duty had already been discharged under the compounded levy scheme under Section 3A. The availability of Notification No. 214/86 was held to be immaterial on those facts, because the decisive consideration was that duty had already stood paid on the goods. On that basis, further duty demand on the same rounds could not be sustained, and consequential relief followed.

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Issues: Whether steel rounds manufactured on job work basis were liable to duty despite having discharged duty liability under Section 3A, and whether the availability of Notification No. 214/86 was relevant in such circumstances.

Analysis: The goods were manufactured from billets sent by the principal manufacturer on job work basis. The duty liability on the rounds had already been discharged under the compounded levy scheme under Section 3A. In that situation, the question whether Notification No. 214/86 was available or not was immaterial, because the decisive fact was that duty had already stood discharged on the goods.

Conclusion: The rounds could not again be made liable to duty, and the appeal was allowed with consequential relief.

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