Rebate under Central Excise rules is limited to duty legally payable on export, with authorities empowered to verify admissibility.

Rebate under Rule 18 of the Central Excise Rules is confined to duty legally payable at the effective rate on the date of export; duty paid in excess of that liability is not rebateable. Where the effective rate on export was 8%, rebate could be sanctioned only to that extent and not on duty paid at 10%. Notification No. 19/2004-C.E. (N.T.) also requires the sanctioning authority to examine the rebate documents and satisfy itself that the claim is in order, so prior duty certification does not prevent scrutiny of admissibility. The excess rebate sanctioned was recoverable with applicable interest.

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Issues: (i) Whether rebate under Rule 18 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 could be sanctioned on duty paid at 10% when the effective rate on the date of export was 8%; (ii) Whether the rebate sanctioning authority was bound by the duty certification already made and could not examine the correctness of the rebate claim under Notification No. 19/2004-C.E. (N.T.) dated 6-9-2004.

Issue (i): Whether rebate under Rule 18 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 could be sanctioned on duty paid at 10% when the effective rate on the date of export was 8%.

Analysis: The effective rate of duty fixed by Notification No. 4/2009-C.E. took effect from the date of its publication, and on the date of export the payable duty was 8%. Duty paid in excess of the statutory liability could not be treated as rebateable duty.

Conclusion: Rebate was admissible only to the extent of duty payable at 8%, and the excess amount of Rs. 60,061/- was not admissible as rebate.

Issue (ii): Whether the rebate sanctioning authority was bound by the duty certification already made and could not examine the correctness of the rebate claim under Notification No. 19/2004-C.E. (N.T.) dated 6-9-2004.

Analysis: Notification No. 19/2004-C.E. (N.T.) required the Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner to compare the relevant copies of the rebate documents and sanction the rebate only if satisfied that the claim was in order. The circular relied upon by the assessee could not override the notification, and the authority was entitled to restrict rebate to the duty legally payable.

Conclusion: The rebate sanctioning authority could examine the correctness of the claim and limit rebate to the admissible amount.

Final Conclusion: The revision succeeded, the appellate order was set aside, and the rebate was confined to duty payable at the effective rate, with recovery of the excess sanctioned amount and applicable interest.

Ratio Decidendi: Rebate under Rule 18 read with the governing notification is confined to duty legally payable at the effective rate on the relevant date, and the sanctioning authority must independently satisfy itself that the rebate claim is in order before sanctioning it.

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