- (1.) The appellant is a Government of India public sector undertaking incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and is engaged in design, manufacture and supply of power and instrument transformers, bus ducts and AC/DC Loco to the Indian Railways and other public and private sectors. The appellant has executed an agreement with the Indian Railways for supply of electrics wherein the price of the product supplied by the appellant is not settled in advance at the time of placement of the order but is determined ex-post supply by the Railway Board based on the recommendation of the Chief Advisor (Cost), Ministry of Finance.
(2.) At the time of despatch of the goods, a provisional assessment is raised wherein central excise duty is provisionally paid in accordance with the provisional assessment order under Rule 7 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) issued by the Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise. It is contended that immediately on the approval of the final price, adjustment bills on differential duty, if any, is raised and paid or a refund claim is lodged depending on the price which is fixed. The final assessment is passed thereafter by the excise authorities.
(3.) For the period 2007-08 and 2008-09, the appellant cleared excisable goods on payment of duty as per the order under Rule 7(1) of the Rules on provisionally assessed value. After the finalisation of the prices, the appellant raised invoices and paid the differential rate of duty and submitted the relevant documents for finalisation of the provisional assessments. It is alleged that the jurisdictional authority, without affording any opportunity, passed the final assessment order holding that even though no further duty was payable but held that the appellant was liable to pay interest on the differential duty under Section 11AB of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The appellant, being aggrieved filed an appeal, which was dismissed against which further appeal was filed before the Tribunal. The Tribunal after considering the matter dismissed the appeal. The appellant, still aggrieved, has filed the present appeal.;