TMI Blog2013 (11) TMI 589X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... three months from the date of receipt of application for refund under Section 11B(1) and not on the expiry of the said period from the date on which the order of refund is made – Relying upon Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. v. Union of India [2004 (1) TMI 92 - HIGH COURT OF GAUHATI] - while directing refund of excise duty paid in terms of notification dated 8-7-1999, had also directed payment of interest for delayed payment as per provision of Section 11 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 - Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 does not exclude claim of refund made in terms of the notification dated 8-7-1999 - Petitioners would thus be entitled to interest under Section 11BB of the Central Excise Act, 1944 on the excise duty refunded to them - The jurisdictional excise officers shall now determine the interest amount payable to the petitioners for the relevant periods – Decided in favour of Petitioner. - W.P. (C) Nos. 1166 and 2325 of 2012 - - - Dated:- 8-11-2012 - A.K. Goel and Ujjal Bhuyan, J. Mrs. M. Hazarika, Senior Counsel and Ms. S. Kejriwal, Counsel, for the Petitioner. Shri R. Dubey, Standing Counsel, for the Respondent. ORDER This Judgment wil ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... etitioner out of the claimed amount of Rs. 1,10,61,418/-. Respondent No. 4 stated that the refund claim for the months of August, 1999, September, 1999, May, 2000, September, 2000, November, 2001 and December, 2001 involved amounts of over Rs. 5 lakhs, which required audit clearance. Thus, an amount of Rs. 33,09,009/- (Rs. 1,10,61,418/- Rs. 77,52,409/-) was kept pending. 9. The sanctioned amount of Rs. 77,52,409/- was refunded to the petitioner. 10. Commissioner of Central Excise, Dibrugarh (respondent No. 3) preferred appeal against aforesaid order dated 5-8-2005. The appellate authority i.e. Commissioner (Appeals), by order dated 31-1-2006 rejected the appeal and upheld the order dated 5-8-2005. 11. Revenue thereafter preferred appeal before the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Kolkata (CESTAT). However, CESTAT by order dated 21-6-2011 dismissed the appeal filed by the Revenue. 12. Against order of CESTAT, Revenue filed further appeal before this Court, which was registered as C.Ex. Appeal No. 5/2011. This Court by order dated 19-12-2011 dismissed the appeal holding that no substantial question of law arose in the appeal. 13. In spite of such orders ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ral Excise, Nagaon by order dated 23-11-2011 rejected the demand for payment of interest on the ground that in case of refund under notification dated 8-7-1999, Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 is not applicable and consequently, interest under Section 11BB of the said Act would not be payable. 21. Aggrieved, the petitioners have preferred the related writ petition challenging the legality and validity of the aforesaid order dated 23-11-2011 and seeking a direction to the respondents to pay interest on the delayed refund. 22. Respondents have filed counter affidavit in W.P. (C) No. 1166/2012. In the said counter, it is stated that refund claim of Rs. 33,09,009/- was taken up for expeditious disposal. Ultimately, by order dated 27-3-2012 passed by the Assistant Commissioner, Dibrugarh, an amount of Rs. 32,05,103/- was sanctioned for refund to petitioner. The said amount was paid to the petitioner vide cheque dated 27-3-2012. On the clam of interest, the respondents stated that nature of refund envisaged in the notification dated 8-7-1999 is qualitatively different from refund under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 as it was not on account of any excess paym ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uments and evidence for refund of such duty to the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise before the expiry of six months from the relevant date. Under sub-section (2) of Section 11B, if on receipt of any such application, the Assistant Commissioner is satisfied that the whole or any part of the duty of excise paid by the applicant is refundable, he may make an order accordingly. 28. Under Section 11BB of the Central Excise Act, 1944, if any duty ordered to be refunded under sub-section (2) of Section 11B to any applicant is not refunded within three months from the date of receipt of application under sub-section (1) of that section, there shall be paid to that applicant interest at such rate which may be fixed by the Central Board of Excise and Customs on such duty from the date immediately after the expiry of three months from the date of receipt of such application till the date of refund of such duty. 29. From a conjoint reading of Sections 11B and 11BB of the Central Excise Act, 1944, it is apparent that if any refund of excise duty is ordered under Section 11B(2), the same has to be refunded within three months from the date of receipt of application under sub-section ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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