Dinesh Mehta, J.

Feeling aggrieved of rejection of request of encashment of the amount lying in CENVAT credit account, by the authorities below, the appellant has approached this Court, by way of present appeal under Section 35-G of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (for short, hereinafter "the Act of 1944).

2. The appellant, a manufacturer of Cotton Yarn, Fabrics, Synthetic Filament Yarn, has been paying applicable Excise Duty, Education Cess, Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Cess on the raw material procured by it. The Central Government, however, vide notification No.14/2015 and 15/2015 issued on 1.3.2015 exempted levy of Education Cess so also Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Cess.

3. On the fateful day i.e. on 1.3.2015, the appellant had an accumulated balance of Rs. 7,08,993/- comprising Education Cess of Rs. 4,74,725/- and Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Cess of Rs. 2,34,208/- in its CENVAT credit account. Consequent to the very rescission of the Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Cess, the concerning credit lying in the CENVAT credit, paid on the inputs, input services and capital goods became unutilisable or unrealisable for the assessee.

4. Faced with such situation, the appellant filed a claim for refund of Rs. 7,08,933/- on 1.12.2015 under Section 11B of the Act of 1944.

5. The adjudicating authority rejected appellant's refund claim vide order dated 02.03.2016, observing that the statutory provisions neither provide for sanction of refund in cash nor do they permit an assessee to utilize the accumulated CENVAT credit of Education Cess and Secondary & Higher Secondary Education Cess paid on inputs or input services against payment of excise duty etc.

6. The appellant preferred a statutory appeal against the said order, which came to be rejected by the appellant authority vide its order dated 12.1.2018, more or less echoing the views of the adjudicating authority. It was additionally observed by the appellate Commissioner that intention of the Central Government was clear that balance of unutilized credit of Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Cess as on 1.3.2015, would not be permitted to be used for payment of Excise Duty, as no such provision had been introduced to this effect while doing away with the Cess.

7. The appellant took up the matter to the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as "the Tribunal") by way of filing a further appeal. The Tribunal also affirmed the orders passed by the authorities below vide its order dated 30.05.2018, holding inter-alia that there is no basic provision either in the Excise Act or under the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004, permitting the refund of the accumulated credit. The Tribunal also observed that the Credit is admissible only for utilization towards the payment of duty on the final product and such credit can never be encashed by the assessee.

8. Feeling aggrieved of the order dated 30.05.2018 passed by the Tribunal, the appellant has preferred the present appeal, in a bid to claim encashment/ cash refund of the amount of Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Cess of Rs. 7,08,933/-, lying in its CENVAT credit account on 1.03.2015.

9. Mr. Johari, learned counsel for the appellant assailing the order passed by the Tribunal argued that the appellant's appeal has been rejected by the Tribunal on flimsy ground that there is no provision under the Act of 1944, authorizing the assessee to claim refund of the Cess in question, lying unutilised in CENVAT credit of the assessee. He contended that true it is, that there is no provision for refund of the cess or duty lying in credit of an assessee's CENVAT account; but at the same time, it is undisputed that there is also no provision denying such right or prohibiting such refund. In such situation, as the assessee admittedly had a credit balance of Rs. 7,08,933/- in its CENVAT account on 01.03.2015, comprising