Refund under Rule 173L cannot be denied for missing documents when return, reprocessing, and duty payment are otherwise proved.

Refund under Rule 173L of the erstwhile Central Excise Rules is not to be denied merely because the original gate pass and returned invoice are unavailable, where the return of duty-paid goods, their reprocessing, and payment of duty again are otherwise established by reliable evidence. The record showed return of rejected goods, filing of D3 intimation, verification by an excise officer, maintenance of separate accounts, and fresh duty payment after reprocessing. Missing documents caused by retention for Modvat purposes and loss in transit did not displace these substantive facts. The operative principle is that technical documentary defects cannot override proof of the statutory conditions for refund.

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Issues: Whether refund of duty paid on reprocessed goods could be denied for non-production of the original gate pass and the returned invoice, when the return of duty-paid goods and their reprocessing were otherwise established.

Analysis: Rule 173L of the erstwhile Central Excise Rules permits refund of duty on goods originally cleared on payment of duty and returned to the manufacturer, subject to prescribed conditions. The material showed that the goods were returned after rejection, intimation was filed in D3 form, an excise officer verified the receipt, separate accounts were maintained, and duty was paid again after reprocessing. The original gate pass could not be produced because it was retained by the buyer for Modvat purposes, and the return invoice was not produced because it was lost in transit. These documentary deficiencies did not displace the established facts that duty had been paid on the original clearance and that a part of the goods had been returned for reprocessing.

Conclusion: The refund claim could not be rejected on the basis of the missing documents, and the denial of refund was unsustainable. The appeal was allowed and the assessee was held entitled to refund with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Refund under Rule 173L cannot be denied on technical documentary defects where the return of duty-paid goods, their reprocessing, and the second payment of duty are otherwise proved by reliable evidence.

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