S. Ravindra Bhat, J.

Admit.

Mr. Harpreet Singh, Adv. accepts notice.

2. With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, the appeal was heard finally.

3. The question of law that arises in this case is:-

“whether in the given circumstances of the case, the appellant/assessee was entitled to Cenvat credit in respect of the countervailing duty paid inputs.”

4. For the purpose of this, it would be sufficient to notice that Anti Evasion Branch of Central Excise investigated with respect to the manufacture and sale of the appellant’s products; search was conducted in its premises on 07.02.2003 in which various articles and many other documents were seized. Later, on 18.02.2003, the assessee secured registration under the Central Excise Act and deposited Rs.50 lakhs towards advance duty. The show cause notice was issued on 08.04.2005 with respect to the seizure of goods. Later, the statement of its proprietor Mr. Amit Madan had been recorded on a number of dates of hearings. Given all these circumstances, the appellant had approached the Customs and Excise Settlement Commission which rejected its request for resolution of the case observing that its manufacturing units have n