Refund limitation under Central Excise Rules runs from assessment date when duty is paid in advance through personal ledger account.

Duty debited to the personal ledger account for removal of excisable goods was treated as an advance deposit, while final assessment was made later on the RT-12 statement by the proper officer. For limitation under Rule 11 read with Rule 173-J of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, the date of payment was taken as the date of assessment rather than the earlier date of clearance. On that basis, a refund application filed on 9-4-1973 was within time because the relevant clearances could not have been finally assessed before May 1972, and the refund claim was held not time-barred.

---

---

Issues: Whether the refund claim was barred by limitation under Rule 11 read with Rule 173-J of the Central Excise Rules, 1944.

Analysis: Duty debited to the personal ledger account was treated as a deposit made for removal of goods, while the actual assessment was made later on the RT-12 statement by the proper officer. On that basis, the date of payment of duty was taken to be the date of assessment, and the refund application filed on 9-4-1973 was held to be within time because the relevant clearances could not have been finally assessed earlier than May 1972.

Conclusion: The refund claim was not time-barred and the revision was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: For refund limitation purposes under the Central Excise Rules, 1944, duty paid in advance through the personal ledger account is to be treated as paid on the date of assessment by the proper officer, not on the earlier date of clearance.

---