Payment under protest and refund limitation: duty paid on departmental direction was held not time-barred.

Duty deposited under departmental direction was treated as payment under protest because the TR-6 challans recorded that any refund arising on sanction of the World Bank loan should be returned to the assessee. The Tribunal relied on the surrounding circumstances, including the delayed loan sanction and an identical earlier dispute, to hold that the refund claim was not barred by limitation. On that basis, the impugned order treating the payment as made under protest was upheld and the refund claim was accepted as timely.

---

---

Issues: Whether the duty deposited by the respondent pursuant to the departmental direction was to be treated as payment under protest so that the refund claim was not hit by limitation.

Analysis: The duty was deposited through TR-6 challans with a specific remark that, if refund arose on sanction of the World Bank loan, the amount should be paid to the respondent. The same dispute had already been decided in the respondent's favour in an identical matter, where the Tribunal had considered the surrounding circumstances, including the delayed sanction of the loan, and had held that the refund claim was not barred by time. Following that view, the impugned order treating the payment as made under protest was found to be correct.

Conclusion: The issue was decided in favour of the assessee and the refund claim was held not to be time-barred.

---