Bona fide filing before wrong forum can exclude time spent for limitation in refund claims.

Refund claims under the export-related service tax refund scheme were held not time-barred where they were first filed before the wrong jurisdictional authority under a bona fide belief and later transferred to the proper authority. The period spent prosecuting the claims before the incorrect forum was treated as excludable for limitation purposes, following Tribunal support for exclusion when a claimant acts in good faith before the wrong forum. As a result, the refund claims were not rejected as barred by time and the Revenue's challenge failed, leaving the order allowing refund sustained.

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Issues: Whether the refund claims were liable to be rejected as time barred when they were first filed before the wrong jurisdictional authority under a bona fide belief and later transferred to the proper authority.

Analysis: The refund claims arose under the refund scheme notified for taxable services used in export of goods. The claims had initially been filed before the Mumbai service tax office because the assessee's head office was there, and the assessee acted under a bona fide belief about the proper filing forum. The time taken while prosecuting the claims before the wrong forum was treated as not countable for limitation, and the cited Tribunal view supported exclusion of such period where a party proceeds before the wrong forum under a bona fide belief.

Conclusion: The refund claims were not barred by limitation and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The order allowing the refund claims was sustained, and the Revenue's appeals did not succeed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a claimant, acting under a bona fide belief, pursues a claim before a wrong forum and thereafter seeks transfer to the proper authority, the period so spent may be excluded while examining limitation.

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