Rectification cannot reclassify a rebate dispute as refund when no apparent error in the Tribunal's jurisdictional ruling is shown.

The Tribunal held that a rectification application cannot be used to recharacterise a dispute from rebate to refund where no mistake apparent from the record is shown. On the facts, although duty had been paid on export consignments after clearance under AR-4, the controversy remained one of rebate, and the earlier order had already treated it as falling within the first proviso to Section 35B(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, outside the Tribunal's jurisdiction. No apparent error was found in that reasoning, so the request to alter the dismissal of the appeal was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the order dismissing the appeal for want of jurisdiction on the ground that the dispute related to rebate of Central Excise duty contained any mistake apparent from the record warranting rectification, and whether the matter was ally one of refund rather than rebate.

Analysis: The Tribunal held that, on the facts, the duty had been paid on the export consignment after clearance under AR-4, but the substance of the controversy still remained one of rebate and not refund. The earlier order had already taken the view that the subject matter fell within the first proviso to Section 35B(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and therefore outside the Tribunal's jurisdiction. No apparent error was found in that reasoning, and the attempt to recharacterise the dispute did not disclose any mistake on the face of the record.

Conclusion: The application for rectification was rightly rejected.

Final Conclusion: The Tribunal declined to alter its earlier dismissal of the appeal and maintained that the dispute continued to be treated as one relating to rebate, with no rectifiable error shown.

Ratio Decidendi: A rectification application cannot be used to reargue the character of the dispute where the original order contains no mistake apparent from the record and the Tribunal has already concluded that the matter falls outside its jurisdiction.

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