Case: Commissioner of Central Excise, Haldia Vs. Krishna Wax Ltd

his view point on all possible issues and only thereafter the determination or decision is arrived at. In the present case even before the response could be made by the respondent and the determination could be arrived at, the matter was carried in appeal against said Internal Order. The appellant was therefore, justified in submitting that the appeal itself was pre-mature. 12. It has been laid down by this Court that the excise law is a complete code in itself and it would normally not be appropriate for a Writ Court to entertain a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution and that the concerned person must first raise all the objections before the authority who had issued a show cause notice and the redressal in terms of the existing provisions of the law could be taken resort to if an adverse order was passed against such person. For example in Union of India and another vs. Guwahati Carbon Limited (2012) 11 SCC 651 , it was concluded; ?The Excise Law is a complete code in order to seek redress in excise matters and hence may not be appropriate for the writ court to entertain a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution? , while in Malladi Drugs and Pharma Ltd. vs. Union of India 2004 (166) ELT 153 (S.C.) , it was observed:-?…The High Court, has, by the impugned judgment held that the Appellant should first raise all the objections before the Authority who have issued the show cause notice and in case any adverse order is passed against the Appellant, then liberty has been granted to approach the High Court… …in our view, the High Court was absolutely right in dismissing the writ petition against a mere show cause notice.?It is thus well settled that writ petition should normally not be entertained against mere issuance of show cause notice. In the present case no show cause notice was even issued when the High Court had initially entertained the petition and directed the Department to prima facie consider whether there was material to proceed with the matter. 13. We now deal with the decisions relied upon by Ms. Jain, learned counsel for the appellant. The decision of this Court in GKN Driveshafts (India) Ltd. 2 was in the context of Section 148 of the Income Tax Act. Said Section 148 itself contemplates that the Assessing Officer shall, before issuing any notice under said Section 148, record his reasons for issuing such notice. In the backdrop of such requirement, this Court had observed:-?5. We see no justifiable reason to interfere with the order under challenge. However, we clarify that when a notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act is issued, the proper course of action for the noticee is to file return and if he so desires, to seek reasons for issuing notices. The assessing officer is bound to furnish reasons within a reasonable time. On receipt of reasons, the noticee is entitled to file objections to issuance of notice and the assessing officer is bound to dispose of the same by passing a speaking order. In the instant case, as the reasons have been disclosed in these proceedings, the assessing officer has to dispose of the objections, if filed, by passing a speaking order, before proceeding with the assessment in respect of the abovesaid five assessment years.?The decision of the Tribunal in the case of Reliance Industries Ltd. 3 was also in a completely different context. The order of the Collector dated 03.03.1986 which was subject matter of appeal in that case, was a record of a personal hearing in the course of the adjudication proceeding that was communicated to the assessee. It was therefore concluded that an appeal against such order would be maintainable. The point of distinction is that it was communicated by the Department during the course of adjudication proceedings whereas in the present matter there was no such communication by the Department on its own and the order dated 19.03.2016 was not a part of any adjudication proceedings. The proceedings would have begun only after the issuance of show cause notice under Section 11A of the Act. 14. We must at this stage refer to an aspect which was projected after the judgment was reserved in the matter. By filing an application for directions, attention of the Court was invited to Circular dated 22.08.2019 issued by Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (Judicial Cell), the relevant portion of which is to the following effect:-?In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 35R of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and made applicable to Service Tax vide Section 83 of the Finance Act, 1994, the Central Board of indirect Taxes and Customs fixes the following monetary limits below which appeal shall not be filed in the CESTAT, High Courts and Supreme Court. TABLE 2. This instruction applies only to legacy issues i.e. matters relating to Central Excise and Service Tax, and will apply to pending cases as well. 3. Withdrawal process in respect of pending cases in above forums, as per the above revised limits, will follow the current practice that is being followed for the withdrawal of cases from the Supreme Court, High Courts and CESTAT. All other terms and conditions of concerned earlier instructions will continue to apply. 4. It may be noted that issues involving substantial questions of law as described in para1.3 of the instruction dt 17.08.2011 from F.No.390/Misc/163/2010-JC would be contested irrespective of the prescribed monetary limits.?15. In the present case, there was no assessment and computation of any duty element. The matter had not gone beyond the Show Cause Notice. The questions in the matter pertained to the correctness of the view whether there was any adjudication in the matter and whether the appeal at the instance of the Respondent was maintainable. In our view the issues involved in the matter do not strictly come within the confines of the aforesaid Circular.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]Without going into other details regarding the period of limitations and the circumstances under which show cause notice can be issued, the crux of the matter is that such determination is after the issuance of show cause notice followed by affording of opportunity and consideration of representation, if any, made by the concerned person.The issuance of show cause notice under Section 11A also has some significance in the eyes of law. The day the show cause notice is issued, becomes the reckoning date for various issues including the issue of limitation. If we accept the submission of the respondent that a prima facie view entertained by the department whether the matter requires to be proceeded with or not is to be taken as a decision or determination, it will create an imbalance in the working of various provisions of Section 11A of the Act including periods of limitation. It will be difficult to reckon as to from which date the limitation has to be counted.In the present case, the respondent had not registered itself and was not paying any excise duty on the products that it was manufacturing. The search conducted by the Department at the registered office and the factory premises of the respondent led to the recovery of certain material on the basis of which the Department was considering the matter. At that stage, a writ petition was filed in which an order was passed by the High Court on 28.11.2005 directing the appellant to decide whether the Department had jurisdiction to proceed in the matter before deciding any other issues on merits. As stated above, the provisions of the Act do not contemplate any such prima facie determination to be arrived at and requiring that a copy of such determination to be submitted to the concerned person and only thereafter to proceed in the matter. Nonetheless, since a direction was issued by the High Court, the Department in deference to such direction did consider the matter and by an Internal Order dated 15.03.2006 prima facie recorded an opinion that the authorities under the Act had jurisdiction to proceed in the matter. Since the provisions of the Act do not contemplate any prima facie determination which must be communicated to the concerned person, the Department was justified in not communicating the Internal Order on its own. The matter was correctly assessed by the High Court on the next occasion when in spite of having directed that a copy of the Internal Order be supplied, it acknowledged that the remedy of the respondent lied in submitting reply to the show cause notice, in which reply it would be open to the respondent to take objections to the jurisdiction of the appellant to proceed against the respondent under the provisions of the Act.The communication of the Internal Order dated 15.03.2006 was only in deference to the order passed by the High Court. At the cost of repetition, it must be stated that neither the Act contemplates any such prima facie determination which must be communicated only whereafter the proceedings could be initiated nor was such course undertaken by the Department on its own. Therefore, merely because the Internal Order was communicated to the respondent, it would not afford the respondent a cause of action to file an appeal against said Internal Order. The communication of said Internal Order was only in obedience of the directions issued by the High Court. It was not a decision or determination which was arrived at in terms of sub-section 10 of Section 11A. The respondent therefore could not have preferred any appeal against said Internal Order dated 15.03.2006. The Appellate Authority as well as the Tribunal, in our view, completely failed to appreciate this basic distinction.It must be noted that while issuing a show cause notice under Section 11A of the Act, what is entertained by the Department is only a prima facie view, on the basis of which the show cause notice is issued. The determination comes only after a response or representation is preferred by the person to whom the show cause notice is addressed. As a part of his response, the concerned person may present his view point on all possible issues and only thereafter the determination or decision is arrived at. In the present case even before the response could be made by the respondent and the determination could be arrived at, the matter was carried in appeal against said Internal Order. The appellant was therefore, justified in submitting that the appeal itself wasis thus well settled that writ petition should normally not be entertained against mere issuance of show cause notice. In the present case no show cause notice was even issued when the High Court had initially entertained the petition and directed the Department to prima facie consider whether there was material to proceed with the matter.decision of the Tribunal in the case of Reliance Industries Ltd. 3 was also in a completely different context.In the present case, there was no assessment and computation of any duty element. The matter had not gone beyond the Show Cause Notice. The questions in the matter pertained to the correctness of the view whether there was any adjudication in the matter and whether the appeal at the instance of the Respondent was maintainable. In our view the issues involved in the matter do not strictly come within the confines of the aforesaid Circular.