Malwa Industries Ltd. vs Commissioner of C. Ex.

N.K. Sodhi, J.—Challenge in this writ petition is to the notice dated 30-4-2002 issued by the Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise Division, Gobindgarh to the petitioner calling upon it to show cause as to why additional Excise duty amounting to Rs. 84,20,670/- wrongly paid by it through CENVAT credit should not be recovered from it u/s 11A of the Central Excise Act, 1944. Petitioner has also been asked to show cause why penalty be not imposed under Rule 173Q of the Central Excise Act, 1944. The grievance of the petitioner is that this issue has already been decided by the Assistant Commissioner and therefore, he was not justified in issuing show cause notice. Reference has been made to the order dated 1-4-2002 (Annexure P-2 with the writ petition).

After hearing Counsel for the petitioner, we are clearly of the view that the petitioner should reply to the show cause notice issued by the Assistant Commissioner and bring to his notice the aforesaid order by which it is claimed that the issue already stands settled. In case the matter is decided against the petitioner, it will have the statutory remedies available to it. There is no ground for us to interfere at this stage. Since the amount involved is very large, we direct the Assistant Commissioner to decide the matter expeditiously but not later than two months after the petitioner files its response to the show cause notice.

The petition stands disposed of as above.