RT-12 assessment under self-removal scheme can correct disclosed short levy without show cause notice or personal hearing.

Under the self-removal scheme, Rule 173-I permits the proper officer to verify the RT-12 return, complete the assessment, and correct an arithmetical short levy disclosed in the return itself without issuing a show cause notice or granting a personal hearing. The procedure is confined to assessment and correction of duty calculation errors, not to disputed classification, valuation, penalty, or confiscation matters. Where the short-paid duty arises from a mistake apparent in the return, unilateral corrective assessment is authorised and the demand is valid.

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Issues: Whether, under Rule 173-I of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, the proper officer was required to issue a show cause notice and afford a personal hearing before completing the RT-12 assessment and demanding short-paid duty.

Analysis: Rule 173-I operates within the self-removal scheme, under which the assessee itself determines and pays duty on clearance and submits the RT-12 return for scrutiny. The officer's role at that stage is to verify the return, complete the assessment memorandum, and correct mistakes in duty calculation; it is not an adjudication of a disputed classification or valuation claim. The demand in question arose from an arithmetical short payment disclosed by the return itself, and not from any penal action, confiscation, or reclassification dispute. In that setting, the rule contemplates unilateral corrective assessment and does not require the formal procedure of show cause notice or personal hearing. The reliance placed on decisions dealing with penalty or confiscation was held to be misplaced.

Conclusion: No show cause notice or personal hearing was required before completing the RT-12 assessment under Rule 173-I, and the demand for short-paid duty was valid.

Final Conclusion: The assessment made under the self-removal procedure was upheld and the order of the lower appellate authority was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the short levy arises from a mistake in duty calculation disclosed in the RT-12 return under the self-removal scheme, Rule 173-I authorises the proper officer to complete the assessment and correct the error without issuing a show cause notice or granting a personal hearing.

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