Customs drawback limitation cannot be used to reject timely claims when departmental verification records are incomplete.

Customs drawback claims cannot be rejected as time-barred where the record shows timely filing and the department's own verification report was incompletely filled in. An unclear date of receipt or an officer's omission in recording particulars cannot, by itself, defeat the claim after a long lapse of time. The Tribunal treated the limitation objection as unsustainable on the facts and held that the drawback claims were not liable to rejection on that ground.

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Issues: Whether the drawback claims could be rejected as time-barred.

Analysis: The claim was rejected on the premise that the date of receipt was not legible and the verification report did not properly record the relevant particulars. The Tribunal found this approach unreasonable because the record indicated that the claim had in fact been filed in time, and the omission by the departmental officer in filling up the verification report could not be used to defeat the claim after a long lapse of time.

Conclusion: The drawback claims could not be rejected on the ground of limitation.

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