SAD refund under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus cannot be denied for failure to challenge import assessment or claim exemption.

Refund of Special Additional Duty under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus is a distinct post-import mechanism and cannot be denied merely because the importer did not challenge the bill of entry assessment or claim Notification No. 29/2010-Cus at import. The notification does not require re-assessment of the bill of entry, and refund depends on satisfaction of its own prescribed conditions. The absence of any Customs Act provision compelling an importer to avail a particular exemption supported this view, unlike the Central Excise regime. Revenue's objection based on non-challenge to assessment was therefore misplaced.

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Issues: Whether refund of Special Additional Duty of Customs under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus dated 14.9.2007 can be denied on the ground that the importer did not challenge the assessment in the bills of entry or claim exemption under Notification No. 29/2010-Cus at the time of importation.

Analysis: The refund claim was not a request to re-open or alter the assessment made at the time of importation. The scheme of Notification No. 102/2007-Cus contemplates payment of SAD at import and subsequent refund on fulfilment of the prescribed conditions, and no re-assessment of the bills of entry is required under that notification. The bar applied in cases requiring challenge to assessment was therefore inapposite. The absence of a provision in section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 compelling an importer to avail a particular exemption, contrasted with section 5A(1A) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, supported the view that the importer could not be forced to claim Notification No. 29/2010-Cus. The refund could be denied only if the conditions of Notification No. 102/2007-Cus were not satisfied, and the Revenue's reliance on prior challenge to assessment was misplaced.

Conclusion: Refund under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus could not be refused merely because the importer had not challenged the assessment or availed Notification No. 29/2010-Cus at import.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a refund notification creates a distinct post-import refund mechanism and does not prescribe re-assessment, the importer cannot be compelled to challenge the original assessment or to have availed another available exemption before claiming refund.

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