Limitation for refund claims excludes office holidays and counts the original receipt date even if the claim was incomplete.

A refund claim is treated as filed on the date it is received by the department, even if it is initially incomplete and later resubmitted with supporting documents. For limitation purposes, holidays when the relevant office is closed are excluded under Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. On that computation, the claim was within the prescribed six-month period and was not time-barred. The rejection of the refund claim on limitation grounds was therefore unsustainable, and the matter was required to be decided on merits.

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Issues: Whether a refund claim received by the department within the limitation period but found incomplete and resubmitted later was to be treated as filed on the original date of receipt, and whether Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 applied to compute the limitation period when the office remained closed on the relevant days.

Analysis: The claim was actually received on 26-6-1995, though it was returned for resubmission of documents and later completed on 25-8-1995. The incompleteness of the claim did not alter the fact of receipt on the earlier date. Since the office of the Assistant Commissioner was closed on 24th and 25th June, the statutory period had to be computed by excluding those holidays under Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. On that basis, the claim fell within six months and could not be rejected as time-barred.

Conclusion: The refund claim was not barred by limitation and the rejection on that ground was unsustainable in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded, the order rejecting the claim on limitation was set aside, and the refund application was directed to be decided on merits.

Ratio Decidendi: For limitation purposes, a refund claim is treated as filed on the date it is received by the department even if incomplete, and holidays when the office is closed are excluded in computing the prescribed period.

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