Final customs assessment can trigger refund suo motu without a separate claim under the earlier assessment scheme.

Under the unamended customs assessment scheme, final assessment that establishes refund entitlement does not require a separate refund application under Section 27. The statutory framework, as applied to the pre-amendment Section 18 regime, contemplated that on finalisation the importer or exporter would either pay any deficiency or become entitled to refund. The Tribunal treated this position as consistent with the earlier excise assessment framework and held that the proper officer had to grant the refund suo motu once admissibility was determined on final assessment.

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Issues: Whether, upon finalisation of assessment, the refund found admissible was required to be claimed under Section 27 of the Customs Act or was liable to be sanctioned suo motu by the proper officer.

Analysis: The statutory scheme prior to the amendment of Section 18 did not require a refund application after final assessment. Section 18(2) contemplated that, on finalisation, the importer or exporter would either pay the deficiency or become entitled to refund. The provision requiring a formal refund claim was introduced only later. The Tribunal treated the earlier scheme as pari materia with the unamended Rule 9(B) of the Central Excise Rules and held that the refund, once found admissible on final assessment, had to be granted without insisting on a separate claim under Section 27.

Conclusion: The requirement to file a refund claim under Section 27 was not applicable, and the refund was to be sanctioned suo motu in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where final assessment itself establishes entitlement to refund under the unamended customs assessment scheme, the proper officer cannot insist on a separate refund application under Section 27 to grant the amount found refundable.

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