JUDGMENT

S.B. Sinha, J. — Leave granted.

2. Whether extended period of limitation envisaged under the proviso appended to Section 11A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (for short "the Act") would apply to the facts and circumstances of the present case is the question involved in this appeal.

3. Before adverting to the said question, however, we may notice the basic fact of the matter which is not in dispute.

4. The Respondent herein manufactures paper based decorative laminated sheets. The goods manufactured by the Respondent were classified under Chapter 39 of the Custom Excise Tariff Act whereas according to the Appellant it should have been classified as sub-heading No. 4823.90. The classification for the year 1993 was approved by the Revenue. By a letter dated 6.12.1994, it requested Respondent to intimate the manufacturing process of the product, to which a reply was sent by it in terms of its letter dated 7.12.1994 disclosing the manufacturing process stating:

"Brief Manufacturing Process of Paper Based Laminated Sheets

The process of manufacture of the above products involving in three major stages is as under:

1. Preparation of Reactive Mixtures like (i) Melamine formaldehyde and