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2020 (3) TMI 585 - HC - Central ExciseInterest on refunds - Relevant date for Grant of interest - applicant seeks interest from the date the respective amounts were deposited with the respondents till the date of actual refund of the deposit - HELD THAT:- This court has held that since refund is not in the nature of duty under the Central Excise Act, the petitioner is not entitled to statutory interest under section 11BB of that Act. It has further been held that in the absence of any statutory provision entitling the petitioner to interest, a mandamus cannot be issued to the revenue to pay interest. It may be noted that while the petitioner in the relief paragraph has prayed for interest at the rate of 18% per annum, at the time of hearing of the petition, no submissions had been made in this regard. Nonetheless, since in the reliefs prayed for a prayer for grant of interest had been made, this court had considered the same and rightly or wrongly, for the reasons set out in the order as recorded hereinabove, declined to grant such relief. Once the court has after duly recording reasons, turned down the prayer for grant of interest, even if the reasoning for declining such relief may be fallacious, the same would not fall within the scope of a review application. It may be pertinent to note that in the present application, the petitioner has sought review of the judgement dated 16.6.2016 and grant of interest at the rate of 18% per annum or such other rate as the court may deem fit from the date the respective amounts were deposited with the respondents till the date of actual refund of the deposit. However, in the memorandum of petition of the captioned special civil application, the petitioner has prayed for interest at the rate of 18% per annum claimed vide application dated 21.7.2014. Thus, the refund application claimed in the application is not identical to the relief claimed in the petition. At this stage of review, the court would be required to rehear the learned counsel for the respective parties on the question of interest, namely, the entitlement, quantum and the date from which such interest is required to be granted which would amount to giving a fresh opportunity to the petitioner to argue on a point which though, could have been argued, was not argued at the relevant time when the case was heard, which would be beyond the scope of a review petition. Therefore, even while accepting the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner that the findings recorded by this court in paragraph 19 of the judgment are inconsistent with each other, it would not be possible for this court to grant the relief prayed for in the application as it would entail long drawn arguments on the question of entitlement, rate of interest as well as the point of time from which such interest should be granted which would be beyond the scope of a review application. Application rejected.
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