Final excise assessment bars refund based on later credit notes or post-clearance discounts when duty was correctly paid at removal.

Where excise assessments are final and not provisional, post-clearance discounts or credit notes do not change the duty correctly paid on the value applicable at the time of removal, so refund is not admissible on that basis. The earlier refund claim for a prior period was also time-barred under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944. On these facts, the refund claim was held unsustainable and the appeal was rejected.

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Issues: Whether refund of duty for the relevant month was admissible when the assessments were not provisional and the subsequent credit notes issued by the principal manufacturer were relied upon to claim excess duty payment.

Analysis: The refund claim for the earlier period was held to be time-barred under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and was not contested further. As regards the remaining month, the goods had been cleared under excise invoices showing duty payment, and the assessments were not provisional. In such a situation, a subsequent change in value arising from post-clearance discounts or credit notes does not alter the duty correctly paid at the time of clearance.

Conclusion: The refund claim was not sustainable and the appeal was rejected.

Final Conclusion: The decision affirms that, in the absence of provisional assessment, later adjustments in transaction value do not disturb the duty liability already determined at clearance.

Ratio Decidendi: Where assessment is final and not provisional, subsequent post-clearance discounts or credit notes do not entitle the assessee to refund of duty paid on the value applicable at the time of removal.

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