IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA Excise Reference No. 12-2000 Date of decision : September 17, 2008 Commissioner of Central Excise …Petitioner(s). Versus. United Vanaspati Limited. …Respondent(s). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coram: The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta, Judge . The Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.K.Ahuja, Judge. Whether approved for Reporting ? No For the Petitioner (s): Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Assistant Solicitor General of India ( in all the petitions) For the Respondent (s): None. __________________________________________________________________ Deepak Gupta, J. (Oral). This excise reference was admitted on the following question of law:- “Whether gate passes issued prior to 1.4.1994 and on which credit was taken after 30.6.1994 would fall under the purview of Notification No.16/94-CE(NT) dated 30.3.1994 and would consequently become eligible document for taking credit under the Modvat Scheme?” - 2 - To decide the aforesaid question, it would be appropriate to refer to the opening portion of the Notification No.16/94-CE(NT) dated 30.3.1994 which reads as follows:- “ In exercise of the powers conferred by rule 57G of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, the Central Government hereby prescribes the documents specified in column (3) of the Table hereto annexed and issued under the authority of the Central Board of Excise and Customs or the Central Excise Rules, 1944 specified in the corresponding entry in Column(2) of the said table for the purpose of the said rule: Provided that the documents have been issued before the 1st April, 1994 and the credit under the sub rule has been taken on or before 30th June, 1994.” The proviso to opening portion of the Notification clearly lays down that the benefit of Modvat can be claimed only in case of the documents have been issued prior to 1.4.1994 and the credit under the said rule has been taken on or before the 30th June, 1994. The essential feature of this proviso is that both conditions should be fulfilled. The documents must have been issued prior to 1.4.1994 and the credit must have been taken before 30.6.1994. In the present case admittedly, the gate passes were issued prior to 1.4.1994 but the credit was not taken till 30.6.1994. The notification - 3 - in question clearly provided that the credit must be taken prior to 30.6.1994. The order of the learned Tribunal is apparently against the clear-cut language of the notification itself. Consequently, the order of the learned Tribunal is set aside and the question is answered in favour of the department/revenue and against the assessee. The excise reference is disposed of accordingly. . ( Deepak Gupta ), J. September 17, 2008 ( V.K.Ahuja ),J. s.