CENVAT credit refund cannot be claimed in cash without express statutory authority; refund by re-credit was upheld.

Refund of duty discharged through the CENVAT credit account is not ordinarily payable in cash absent an express statutory provision. The Tribunal applied the Larger Bench view that unutilised credit refund must follow the recognised statutory mechanism, and distinguished contrary decisions as arising in a different refund context and without consideration of that binding ruling. The principle of consistency did not justify departure from the authoritative Larger Bench position. The refund was therefore correctly granted by re-crediting the CENVAT account rather than by cash payment, and the challenge to the refund mode failed.

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Issues: Whether the refund of duty paid through the CENVAT credit account was required to be granted in cash or by crediting the amount back to the CENVAT credit account.

Analysis: The duty had been paid by debiting the CENVAT credit account. The Tribunal relied on the Larger Bench view that, in the absence of an express provision permitting cash refund, refund of unutilised credit is not ordinarily payable in cash and is permissible only in the recognised statutory situation. The decisions cited by the appellant were distinguished as relating to a different refund context and as having been rendered without consideration of the Larger Bench ruling. The principle of consistency was noted, but the later appeal could not be allowed to depart from the authoritative larger bench decision.

Conclusion: The refund was correctly granted by credit in the CENVAT credit account and not by cash.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the mode of refund failed, and the appellate relief was declined.

Ratio Decidendi: Where duty is paid through CENVAT credit, refund cannot be claimed in cash in the absence of an express statutory provision permitting such payment.

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