As provided under s. 11a(1), a central excise officer can, within one year from relevant date, serve show cause notice on person chargeable to duty if- (a) duty of excise has not been levied or paid or (b) short levied or shortpaid or (c) erroneously refunded.
In cases of fraud, collusion, willful misstatement and suppression of facts or contravention of any provision of of central excise act or rules with intent to evade payment of duty, the period of limitation is five years to issue SCN.
Now, the question arises that if audit takes place after the limitation period of one year from relevant date, if cases of duties short levied or paid are detected during audit, where there is no malafide intention can there be SCN after the audit even though the limitation period is over?. I repeat that here we are talking about only those cases where there are genuine mistakes and misunderstanding and no malafide intention.
Pl. clarify the matter citing legal references.
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