Statutory presumption of duty pass-through defeated a refund claim where invoices did not separately disclose excise duty.

A refund claim was rejected because the assessee failed to rebut the statutory presumption under Section 12B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 that duty had been passed on to buyers. Although excess duty was shown to have been paid on the freight element in the FOR destination price, the invoices did not separately disclose excise duty, and no sufficient evidence was produced to prove that the burden was not collected from customers. The claim was therefore held not maintainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the refund claim was admissible when the assessee failed to rebut the statutory presumption that the excise duty had been passed on to the buyers.

Analysis: The assessee showed that excess duty had been paid on the freight element in the FOR destination price, but the invoices did not disclose excise duty separately. Under Section 12B of the Central Excise Act, 1944, duty paid is presumed to have been collected from the buyers unless the contrary is proved. The assessee did not produce evidence sufficient to displace that presumption.

Conclusion: The refund claim was not maintainable and was rightly rejected.

---