2002 (3) TMI 74

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..... ion 11AB of the Central Excise Act, 1944 relating to the liability to pay interest on the amount of duty as determined and held payable in terms of the adjudication earlier held under Section 11A of the Act. Vide Judgment dated 23rd July, 1999 the Customs, Excise & Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal (CEGAT), Eastern Bench, Calcutta, set aside that part of the order impugned before it whereby penalt .....

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..... Central Excise Act, 1944 whether in an order of Adjudication where duty payable is determined for the first time after the insertion of Section 11AB, the Adjudicating & Authority would now be empowered to levy interest under Section 11AB upon the duty determined to be payable by the assessee or not even for evasion of duty taking place in the past prior to insertion of Section 11AB." Section 11A .....

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..... e date of such erroneous refund, as the case may be, but for the provisions contained in sub-section (2) of Section 11A, till the date of payment of such duty. (2) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the provisions of sub-section (1) shall not apply to cases where the duty became payable before the date on which the Finance (No. 2) Bill, 1996 receives the assent of the President .....

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..... mitted that the aforesaid Civil Appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court and the aforesaid order of CEGAT was upheld. That order was passed under Section 11AC of the Act. Section 11AC is admittedly, in pari materia to Section 11AB. In this case, the Tribunal had held that Section 11AC was prospective in operation. 5. The learned Counsel for the respondent also relied upon a judgment of the Supre .....

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..... d our understanding of Section 11AB, particularly the specific language employed in sub-section (2) thereof, we hold that this Section being prospective in operation, the respondent is not liable to pay interest on the duty determined and payable for the period in question before the section was made applicable and, accordingly, we have no hesitation in holding that the Tribunal was correct and ju .....

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