TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (1) TMI 508
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....l Nos. 19/2017 & 20/2017 both dated 29.03.2017 (hereinafter referred to as "the Impugned Orders"), whereby the Commissioner of Central Excise, Salem confirmed demands of ineligible CENVAT Credit amounting to Rs.2,81,62,387/-, and Rs.90,17,869/- respectively along with interest and equal penalties. 2.1 The dispute pertains to availment of CENVAT credit of Additional Duty of Customs (Countervailing Duty - CVD) paid at the concessional rates of 1% and 2% on imported steam coal during the period April 2012 to May 2015, and June 2015 to January 2016, under Rule 3(1)(vii) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004. 2.2 The Appellant is a manufacturer of paper and paper boards, classifiable under Chapter 48 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 and S....
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....ated confirming the demands as detailed in Para 1. 3.1 Being aggrieved, the Appellant is before this forum. 3.2 As the present appeals E/416697/17DB and E/41698/17-DB arise out of two Orders-in-Original respectively, both involving an identical and recurring issue, namely whether CENVAT credit of 1% / 2% Additional Duty of Customs (CVD) paid on imported steam coal under Customs Notification No. 12/2012-Cus (as amended) is admissible under Rule 3(1)(vii) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004.Since the issue, facts, statutory provisions and reasoning adopted by the adjudicating authority in both Orders-in-Original are identical, we proceed to decide both appeals by this common order. 4. Mr. Shiva Kumar G, Ld. Advocate, appeared for the Ap....
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.... iv. Whether penalty under Rule 15(2) read with Section 11AC is sustainable? 8.1 Before adverting to the issues framed for our determination, it would be appropriate to briefly examine the statutory framework governing the levy of additional duty of customs and the admissibility of CENVAT credit thereon. Section 3(1) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 provides for levy of an additional duty of customs, commonly referred to as Countervailing Duty (CVD), on imported goods, equal to the excise duty for the time being leviable on a like article if produced or manufactured in India. The said provision creates legal fiction whereby imported goods are subjected to a duty equivalent to central excise duty, with the measure of levy being the....
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....tutory or notification-based prohibition, the conditions embedded in central excise exemption notifications cannot be imported or read into a customs exemption notification by implication. It is within this statutory framework that the issues arising in the present appeals are required to be examined. Whether CENVAT credit of 1% / 2% CVD paid on imported steam coal is admissible under Rule 3(1)(vii) of CCR, 2004? 9.1 The Appellant submitted that Rule 3(1)(vii) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 permits credit of "the additional duty leviable under Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act" and it is undisputed that the Appellant paid Additional Duty of Customs (CVD) under Section 3(1) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975; therefore, credit is stat....
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....onal rates of duty are intended only when credit is not availed, and such intent must be read harmoniously into the CCR. 10.3 On going through the rival submissions, we find that the proviso to Rule 3(1)(i) applies exclusively to duty of excise. Customs Notification No. 12/2012-Cus is issued under Section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 and does not impose any restriction on credit. It is settled law that conditions cannot be read into a notification when none exist. 10.4 We find that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held in the case of Hansraj Gordhandas v. H.H. Dave, AIR 1970 SC 755 that exemption notifications must be interpreted strictly and no additional conditions can be implied. Therefore, the denial of credit by importing excise side....
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....T Credit Rules, 2004, and that conditions prescribed under Central Excise exemption notifications cannot be imported into or superimposed upon Customs notifications for the purpose of denial of such credit. 10.7 In Shyam Steel Industries Ltd. [2022 (382) ELT 329 (Cal.)], the Hon'ble High Court has unequivocally held that CVD levied under Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act retains its character as a customs duty and that restrictions contained in Central Excise notifications have no application to duties levied under the Customs law. The said judgment, being of a High Court, is binding and squarely applicable to the facts of the present case. 10.8 Further, this very Bench, in Chettinad Cements & Ramco Cements Ltd. v. CCE [2024 (6) TMI....