9911796707
TMI Blog2006 (9) TMI 41X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Ravva field. On the crude produced, they are paying Cess at the rate of Rs. 900/- per MT leviable under Section 15(1) of the Oil Industry (Development) Act, 1974 as duties of excise. Payment of Cess is done by way of debit entry in their PLA Account after the end of the month against the quantities of crude oil despatched to refineries by tanker vessels during that month. It was noticed that the appellant had provisionally debited an amount of Rs. 33,55,80,000/- in their PLA for the month of March, 2004 with a remark "towards provisional payment of Cess for the month of March, 2004". In April, 2004, they had taken re-credit of Rs. 6,69,61,181/- in their PLA with the remarks "Rs. 26,86,18,819/- actual Cess payable for the month of March, 20 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ice, the appellant is directed to debit the amount of Cess payable during March every year in PLA provisionally on the basis of the quantities cleared by the 31st of that month itself. These provisional assessments should be finalised within a month by the proper officer. Therefore, Commissioner's finding in the impugned order that the assessment is not provisional is contrary to the Cess payment procedure prescribed under law. (b) The Superintendent of Central Excise in his letter 4-3-2004 directed the appellant to debit the Cess amount payable provisionally and informed that the assessment will be finalised after obtaining necessary information from the refinery, which receives the crude. The above letter leaves no ambiguity that the Ce ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (f) The payments made in March are ad hoc payment as in previous years and PLA adjustments should not be construed as taking credit on their own. During the previous years, the Department had accepted such adjustments of excess payments. The appellant had received oral requests from the department during March, 2001/2002 to pay certain additional excess sums as Cess to help the department achieve their revenue targets and was allowed to adjust the same in April, 2001/2002. (g) The refund application is neither hit by time nor required to be filed in the instant case. The process of filing a refund application instead of making an adjustment entry in the PLA register is not applicable in the instant case. The following case laws were ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not have any warrant or basis under provisions of law. 6. We have gone through the records of the case carefully. The appellant paid the Cess on crude oil produced and despatched by him to the refinery provisionally by debiting a sum of Rs. 33,55,80,000/- in the PLA Account for the month of March, 2004. This is in accordance with the Trade Notice issued by the Commissionerate. As per the Trade Notice, this assessment should be finalised within a period of one month after obtaining information from the appellant. The appellant has stated that Revenue has not at all finalised the assessment and issued the demand even before finalising the assessment. The refund arises on account of the fact that for the month of March the Cess as per the qu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al, Chennai - 600002 Gentlemen, Sub : - Central Excise - Payment of Cess on Crude Oil - Regarding. ***** Please refer to your letter ref No. CBD/RV/CE/2004/124, dated 4-3-2004 on the above subject. The matter has been considered. A modified procedure has been approved for payment of cess by the company. As per the same, (i) You will make payment in the PLA by the due date, i.e. 5th of the following month as per the despatched data. On receipt of the quantity receipted data from the refineries, you will carry out reconciliation and in case, there is any short payment due to the difference in the quantity despatched and the quantity received, you will immediately pay the difference within the month of reconciliation along with i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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