2005 (3) TMI 587 - AT - Central Excise

Tribunal upholds rejection of refund claims for excess duty payment, citing appellants' failure to challenge assessments.

The Tribunal dismissed the appeals, affirming the rejection of refund claims by the appellants who had paid excess duty due to including insurance and ... Refund - Excess duty paid - Finality of assessment order Issues:Appeal against order-in-appeal affirming rejection of refund claims based on excess duty paid due to inclusion of insurance and transportation charges in assessable value.Analysis:The appellants, engaged in manufacturing polyester filament yarn, included insurance and transportation charges in the assessable value of their goods, leading to the payment of excess duty. They filed refund claims citing judgments by the Apex Court and Tribunal disallowing such inclusions in assessable value. However, as they did not challenge the correctness of their own assessments, the Tribunal held that they could not claim refunds based on other judgments. Citing precedents like Mafatlal Indus. Ltd. v. Union of India and Super Cassettes Indus. Ltd. v. CC, Kolkata, the Tribunal emphasized that once an assessment order attains finality without challenge, the excess duty paid cannot be refunded based on favorable judgments in other cases. The Tribunal also referred to the stipulated period of six months for duty payment under protest, as per the judgment in Flock (India) Ltd. v. CCE.In light of the above analysis, the Tribunal found no illegality in the impugned order affirming the rejection of refund claims. Consequently, the appeals of the appellants were dismissed, and the operative part of the order was pronounced in open court on 3-3-2005.