Unjust enrichment does not bar refund of duty paid under protest on free samples when the duty burden was not passed on.

Refund of duty paid under protest on free physician's samples is not barred by unjust enrichment where the assessee bore the incidence of duty and did not recover it from any recipient. Goods supplied free of cost do not indicate passing on of the duty burden, so the refund claim remains maintainable on that basis. The stated conclusion is that the assessee was entitled to succeed in the refund claim.

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Issues: Whether refund of duty paid under protest on free physician's samples was barred by unjust enrichment.

Analysis: The refund claim arose from duty paid under protest in respect of physician's samples distributed free of cost. The governing principle is that a refund paid under protest is not hit by the bar of unjust enrichment, and the burden of duty is not treated as passed on where the goods are supplied free without collecting duty from the recipients. On the facts, the incidence of duty was borne by the assessee and not recovered from the physicians or any other buyer.

Conclusion: The refund was not barred by unjust enrichment and the assessee was entitled to succeed.

Ratio Decidendi: Duty paid under protest, where not recovered from any recipient and borne by the payer, is not hit by unjust enrichment for refund purposes.

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