ORDER

D.K. Jain, J. —

1. Challenge in these civil appeals, filed under Section 35(L) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (for short “the Act”) is to the orders passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (for short “the Tribunal”), inter alia, holding that welding electrodes used in the maintenance of machines were not eligible for credit as “inputs” under the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2002 (for short “the 2002 Rules”).

2. In view of the order we propose to make in all these appeals, at this stage, we deem it unnecessary to narrate the facts in each of the tagged appeals. However, in order to comprehend the controversy in these appeals, a brief reference to the facts in Civil Appeal No.3976 of 2007 would suffice:

The appellant viz. Ramala Sahkari Chini Mills, (hereinafter referred to as “the assessee”) engaged in the manufacture of V.P. sugar and molasses, availed of CENVAT credit on welding electrodes, falling under sub-heading 8311.00 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 (for short “the Tariff Act”), under Rule 2 of the 2002 Rules. The Range Superintendent, vide his letter dated 21st November, 2002 asked the assessee to furnish details of use of welding electrodes in their factory. The assessee replied to the said letter on 28th November, 2002 stating that the said goods are used in the maintenance of their plants and machinery.

3. Thereafter, three show cause notices dated 4th October 2002, 3rd April 2003 and 7th July 2003 were issued to the assessee for the periods February 2002, March 2002 to October 2002 and November 2002 to April 2003, respectively proposing to recover the wrongly availed credit amount for those periods amounting to a total of ‘1,33,871/- together with interest and penalty.

4. The Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise, Meerut, vide Order-in-Original dated 20th August 2004 confirmed the demand of ‘1,33,871/-. The Assistant Commissioner also imposed a penalty of equal amount under Rule 13 of the 2002 Rules and charged interest under Section 11AB of the Act.

5. Being aggrieved by the said order, the assessee preferred an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals), Customs and Central Excise, Meerut, who rejected the same vide his order dated 31st March 2005.

6. The assessee, thereafter, carried the matter in appeal before the Tribunal. The Tribunal, vide its order dated 12th February 2007, dismissed the appeal of the assessee, inter alia, observing that:

“4. The adjudicating authority, on the basis of material on record and the decision of the Tribunal in CCE, Belgaum Vs. Panyam Cements & Mineral Inds. 2003 (54) RLT 557, has held that welding electrodes used for maintenance of machines were not eligible modvat credit. It was found that the welding electrodes were used for repair and maintenance of machinery for welding purposes. The adjudicating authority also noted that in Kanoria Sugars & General Manufacturing Co. Vs. CCE 1996 (16) RLT 571, the Tribunal had held that welding electrodes used only for the purpose of welding were not eligible for modvat credit as also in CCE, Noida Vs. DCM Ltd., decided by the Tribunal on 27.5.2003. Following the decision of the Larger Bench in Jaypee Rewa case reported in 2003(57)RLT739, the adjudicating authority came to the conclusion that welding electrodes were not eligible inputs under Rule 2 of the Cenvat credit rules. The Commissioner (sic) (Appeal) upheld these findings by applying the ratio of the said decisions and held that welding electrodes were not eligible for credit either as input or as capital goods. This issue has been concluded by the Larger Bench in Jaypee Rewa Plant which has been followed in J.P. Cement Works Vs. CCE, Jaipur decided by the Tribunal by order dated 11.12.2006 in Excise Appeal Nos. 99 and 109 of 2005- SM Branch. The authorities below have therefore, rightly held that welding electrodes which were used by the appellant were not eligible for credit either as capital goods or as inputs.

5. As regards the issue of penalty, it was