- (1.) I have had the benefit of reading the judgment that my brother, Majmudar, J. , is about to deliver and I am in respectful agreement therewith. These few lines may be read as an addendum thereto.
(2.) Let me assume for the moment that the assessee was not making clearances on the basis of "the later the better" principle. It would have paid excise duty on the pig iron input and claimed under the Notification dated 27/3/1971, set-off of the amount thereof when clearing the steel ingots produced therefrom. To illustrate, it would have paid Rs. 10. 00 as excise duty upon, say, 100 tonnes of pig iron and claimed the set-off of Rs. 10. 00 against the excise duty of Rs. payable on the steel ingots produced therefrom
(3.) The assessee has, with the permission of the Excise authorities, followed over a large number of years "the later the better" principle. It does so to save itself and the Excise authorities the hassle of making the book entries required by the said notification of taking and giving credit for the excise duty on the pig iron when paying excise duty on the steel ingots produced therefrom. Instead, the assessee pays excise duty on the steel ingots that it manufactures and does not pay excise duty on the pig iron that it uses in such manufacture. To use the example aforementioned, it pays excise duty of Rs. 'y' on the steel ingots;