Provisional excise assessment requires strict Rule 9B compliance; mere endorsement is insufficient and the duty demand fails.

Clearances cannot be treated as provisionally assessed under Rule 9B of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 unless the prescribed procedure is substantially followed and the officer's direction, grounds for provisionality, and bond or security requirements are actually imposed. Where classification lists and RT 12 returns were accepted in the normal course, the provisional assessment endorsement was routinely struck off, and no bond or effective condition was required, the alleged provisional assessment had no legal basis. On those facts, the duty demand founded on provisional assessment was unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the clearances during the relevant period were provisionally assessed under Rule 9B of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, and whether the duty demand based on such alleged provisional assessment could be sustained.

Analysis: Rule 9B required a provisional assessment to be ordered by the Proper Officer with the necessary indicia of provisionality, including the relevant direction, grounds, rate or value, and, where applicable, execution of bond and security. The records showed that the classification lists and RT 12 returns were allowed in the normal course, the provisional assessment endorsement had been routinely struck off in several returns, no bond was demanded, and no effective condition was imposed to treat the clearances as provisional. The Board's circular also stated that non-observance of the prescribed conditions would prevent the assessment from being regarded as provisional, even if the words 'provisional assessment' appeared on documents. On these facts, the Department had not complied with the statutory procedure or the binding administrative instructions, and the alleged provisional assessment was unsupported in law.

Conclusion: The assessments were not valid provisional assessments, and the duty demand raised on that footing was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessment cannot be treated as provisional unless the statutory procedure under Rule 9B is substantially complied with and the necessary officer's direction, bond/security requirements, and conditions of provisionality are actually present; mere endorsement of provisional words on documents is insufficient.

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