Refund limitation and Section 11BB interest fail where duty on home-consumption clearance is time-barred.

Duty paid on clearance for home consumption and later claimed as refund after the goods were brought back for reconditioning under Rule 173H was treated as a claim arising from the original home-consumption clearance, not the later export transaction. On that basis, the refund claim was held to be time-barred. Because the principal refund itself was not maintainable, no separate entitlement to interest under Section 11BB could survive on the rejected amount. The rejection of the refund was therefore sustained.

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Issues: Whether the refund claim of duty paid on clearance for home consumption was barred by limitation and whether interest under Section 11BB could be claimed on the rejected amount.

Analysis: The goods had been cleared for home consumption on payment of duty and were later brought back under Rule 173H for reconditioning. The refund amount of Rs. 1,30,000/- related to duty paid at the time of the original home-consumption clearance, not to the later export transaction. On these facts, the claim was rightly treated as time-barred. Since the principal refund claim itself was not maintainable, no separate relief on interest could survive on that amount.

Conclusion: The rejection of the refund claim as time-barred was upheld, and the petition was dismissed.

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