What happens to Education Cess credit lying in balance?

THE Finance Minister in his Budget speech declared that the education cesses have been subsumed in basic excise duty and the duty rate is now 12.5%. This will relieve many assessees from the difficulty of keeping accounts and depositing duty under different accounting codes. But, what happens to the credit of education cess and SHE cess lying in balance of CENVAT Credit account?

As per Rule 3 (7)(b) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004, CENVAT credit of specified duties shall be utilized for payment of those specified duties only. In other words, CENVAT Credit of Education Cessand Secondary Education Cess shall be utilized respectively for payment of Education Cess / Secondary Education Cess only.

From 01.03.2015, the education cess and SHE cess on excise duty is exempted vice Notification Nos 14 & 15 CE dated 01.03.2015. Many assessees have closing balances of Education Cess and SHE cess in their CENVAT Credit. This credit cannot be utilized for payment of excise duty. Perhaps an amendment to Rule 3 enabling utilization of education cesses for payment of Central Excise duty will solve the problem