By Puloma Dalal, Jayesh Gogri, Chartered Accountants
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Refund Notification No.17/2009-ST dated 07-07-
2009 providing time limit of one year from date pf export did not have
retrospective effect.
Facts:
The appellant, a
100% EOU, filed a refund claim for the period October 2007 to February
2008 on 18-1-/2008 under Notification No.41/2007-ST dated 06-10-2007
which was partly rejected on the grounds of limitation and partly as not
admissible under the said notification.
The appellant contended
that since the notifications were amended time to time increasing the
period to file the refund claim from “2 months” to “6 months” vide
Notification No.32/2008-ST dated 18-11-2008 and further to “1 year” vide
Notification No.17/2009-ST dated 07-07-2009, they filed the refund
claim in time and further relied on ITW Signode India Ltd. vs. Collector
of Central Excise 2003 (158) ELT 403 (SC).
The department
contended that the part refund was time–barred as filed beyond the
admissible period of 6 months as per Notification No.32/2008 and thus
not to be allowed.
Held:
The Hon. Tribunal held that
undisputedly the refund claim was filed beyond the period of “6 months”.
The amending notification was issued after the event of the date of
export and hence, the same was time-barred. The decision of ITW Signode
India Ltd. (supra) is irrelevant in the present case as the issue
involved is the claim of benefit of notification which was required to
be strictly construed and thus time-barred.
