Reference not ripe where Tribunal remanded furnace capacity determination and no final legal issue had yet been decided.

A Tribunal remand directing the adjudicating authority to determine furnace capacity under Section 3A did not give rise to a referenceable question of law, because the dispute had not reached final determination. The remand followed an earlier identical decision and required a fresh hearing before capacity was fixed in terms of Section 3A. As the controversy between Section 3A(4) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and Rule 96ZO(3) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 had not attained finality, the legal issue was not yet ripe for reference. The reference application was rejected.

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Issues: Whether a question of law arose for reference when the Tribunal had already remanded the matter to the adjudicating authority for determination of furnace capacity under Section 3A.

Analysis: The Tribunal noted that the earlier order had followed an identical decision and had remanded the matter with a direction to determine furnace capacity in terms of Section 3A after hearing the appellants. As the remand order had not attained finality on the dispute between Section 3A(4) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and Rule 96ZO(3) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, the controversy was not yet ripe for a reference as no final determination on the legal issue had been reached.

Conclusion: No question of law arose at that stage, and the reference application was rejected.

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