Legal principle

Where excess export duty was never part of any assessment and comes to light only upon a subsequent reassessment, limitation for refund under Section 27(1B)(c) runs from the date of that reassessment, not from the original date of payment.

Court decision

The Tribunal allowed both appeals in favour of JSW. It held the refund claim was not time-barred, set aside the Impugned Order dated 11.08.2016 to the extent it allowed Revenue's appeal and rejected JSW's, restored Order-in-Original No.44746/2016 sanctioning refund of Rs.1,61,96,066, and directed interest under Section 27A on that amount from 22.12.2015 (the day after expiry of three months from the 21.09.2015 reassessment) until actual refund at the notified rate.

Facts

JSW Steel Ltd exported Non Alloy Steel Slabs Export Prime Steel (ITC HS 72071290) vide four free shipping bills in June–July 2008, on which no export duty was assessed, though JSW itself paid export duty at 15% of the FOB value. CBEC Circular No.18/2008-Cus dated 10.11.2008 clarified that till 31.12.2008 the existing practice of treating FOB price as cum-duty price for computing export duty under Section 14 would continue. JSW filed a refund claim dated 30.01.2009 for Rs.1,61,96,066 as excess export duty; after initial rejection as time-barred, a Tribunal remand led to Order-in-Original No.44746/2016 sanctioning the refund following re-assessment of the shipping bills by the Customs Export Department vide Note dated 21.09.2015. The Commissioner (Appeals) then allowed Revenue's appeal and rejected JSW's claim for interest, holding the refund claim time-barred under Section 27, leading to these two appeals.

Key provisions

• Section 27, Customs Act, 1962 — Claim of refund duty
• Section 14, Customs Act, 1962 — Valuation of goods
• Section 51, Customs Act, 1962 — Clearance of goods for exportation
• Section 2(2), Customs Act, 1962 — Definitions