TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1998 (12) TMI 543
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....nce and recovery of Modvat credit in excess of Rs. 50,000/- can be saved on the strength of the provisions of Section 33 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Notification No. 8-C.Ex., dated 2-9-1944 issued by the Central Board of Excise & Customs in terms of its statutory power conferred under the proviso to the said Section 33, empowering such Asstt. Commissioner to adjudicate cases 'without limit' as specified in clause (a) of Section 33 ibid? 2. Whether or not the provisions of Rule 57-I of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 and those of Section 11A of the C.E. Act, 1944 can be said to be identical per se? 3. Whether or not a departmental circular issued in specific reference to demand of duty on final products under Section....
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....y amount exceeding Rs. 50,000/- in terms of Note (b) of that Circular. Hence, that authority has remanded the matters to be decided by a competent authority. 2.1 It is against the aforesaid order that Revenue has filed this Appeals contending that lower appellate authority has misconstrued the Board's Circular (supra). It is submitted by Revenue that the said Circular does not apply to cases disallowing Modvat credit wrongly taken under Rule 57-I. The Circular applies to demands of duty under Section 11A and not to cases under Rule 57-I of the Central Excise Rules. In that view, penalty imposable under Rule 173Q(1)(bb) can also be imposed by the adjudicating authority. For this proposition, Revenue has relied upon Division Bench judgm....
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....ng equal to "Collector" for the purposes of the Central Excise Act and Rules thereunder, were required to be given power of adjudication distinct and lower from that of "Collector". That appears to be the background for adjudication powers for different officers in the Central Excise hierarchy mentioned in the circular. The circular, it is also apparent, does not deal only with duty, although amount of duty has been made the criterion for differentiating the powers of different officers. It is apparent from Note (b) to the effect that, "confiscation of goods and levy of penalties will follow from above powers of adjudication based on merits of the case. 5.3 In view of the above discussion, I am clearly of the view that the circular ap....
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....d, then the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise would have power of adjudication of confiscating the goods upto a value of Rs. 500/- and of imposing a penalty up to Rs. 250/- only under clause (b) of that section. Therefore, the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise's jurisdiction in passing the Orders-in-Original cannot also be saved on the strength of the provisions of Section 33." 4. After having heard both sides, I have come to the conclusion that Question No. 1 does not arise out of the Tribunal's Order because the Notification No. 8-C.E., dated 2-9-1994 was not at all cited before the Bench by either side. I further observe that Section 33 of the Act does not lay down the manner of delegating the powers under that Sectio....