Excise set-off credit wrongly allowed can be recovered where the original grant was based on officer error, not authorisation.

Permission for excise set-off granted without an authorising notification or Board order was treated as an order amenable to appeal, and the credit was recoverable under the recovery provision because it had been wrongly allowed through the officer's error or mis-construction. The proviso dealing with wilful misstatement, collusion or suppression did not apply. A trade notice could not create a benefit reserved to the Government or the Board, and recovery notices issued within the prescribed period were valid. The set-off credit was therefore recoverable and the lower authorities' orders were upheld.

---

---

Issues: Whether the permission granted for set-off under Rule 56A could be treated as a quasi-judicial order, and whether the credit already allowed could validly be recovered under Rule 56A(5) despite the absence of a specific notification covering the product.

Analysis: The application for set-off itself did not rest on any identified notification, and the Assistant Collector had granted permission under an obvious mistake because no notification or Board order authorised set-off for the product. An order passed on such an application is not merely administrative, and Rule 56A(2C) shows that it is amenable to appeal. Rule 56A(5) specifically permits recovery of credit wrongly allowed where the allowance resulted from error or mis-construction on the part of the officer. The proviso relating to wilful misstatement, collusion, or suppression had no application. The trade notice could not confer a benefit reserved to the Government or the Board, and the recovery notices were issued within the period contemplated by the rule.

Conclusion: The recovery of the set-off credit was valid, and the demands raised in all five notices were sustainable.

Final Conclusion: The appellants were not entitled to retain the set-off and the orders of the lower authorities were upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Credit wrongly allowed under an excise set-off scheme may be recovered under the express recovery provision where the original allowance resulted from the officer's error, and a trade notice cannot confer a benefit not authorised by the governing notification or rule.

---