A.K.SIKRI,J. - (1.) Leave granted in the special leave petitions.
(2.) In order to encourage the business community to set up manufacturing units in industrially backward areas like the North-Eastern States, viz. Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh as well as Sikkim, notifications were issued by the Excise Department, Government of India, exempting goods specified in the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 (other than those mentioned in the annexure to these notifications) from payment of excise duty in respect of the goods manufactured and cleared from units located in the aforesaid States. The methodology which was adopted and prescribed in these notifications was that the manufacturer was initially supposed to pay the excise duty leviable on such goods at the time of clearance as per the Tariff Act and thereafter claim the refund thereof. It was also mentioned in these notifications that exemption contained therein shall be available subject to the condition that the manufacturer first utilises whole of the CENVAT credit available to him on the last date of the month under consideration for payment of duty of goods cleared during such period and was to pay only the balance amount in cash. It is this balance amount which was refundable to him. Insofar as payment of the excise duty after availing the CENVAT credit and refund thereof subsequently is concerned, there is no dispute about the same. We are concerned with altogether different aspect which is associated with the aforesaid notification granting exemption from payment of excise duty.
(3.) It so happened that vide Finance Act, 2004, the Education Cess and Higher Education Cess were also imposed, which are surcharge on the excise duty. These Education Cess and Higher Education Cess were also levied and collected from the manufacturers who had set up their units in the aforesaid areas, along with the excise duty. However, while refunding the excise duty paid by these manufacturers, the Education Cess and the Higher Education Cess that were paid by the manufacturers along therewith were not refunded. The dispute, thus, which arises for consideration in these appeals is as to whether the Education Cess and Higher Education Cess which were paid along with the excise duty was also liable to be refunded along with the central excise duty in terms of the exemption notifications. This is the issue which is common in all these appeals and the factual background in which the matter has travelled up to this Court is also almost the same. Therefore, for the sake of convenience, purpose would be served in tracing the factual events from Civil Appeal Nos. 2781-2790 of 2010.;