SAD refund limitation and wrong authority filing: timely claims were allowed, but belated claims remained barred.

A SAD refund claim filed within the prescribed time was held maintainable even though it was presented before the wrong Customs Commissionerate, because timely filing was treated as sufficient and the mistaken forum was not fatal to entitlement. The rejection of the timely claim was therefore set aside. By contrast, refund claims filed after expiry of the one-year period in the notification were held to be barred by mandatory limitation and were not admissible. The appeal thus succeeded only for the timely claims filed before the incorrect authority, while the belated claims remained rejected.

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Issues: (i) Whether SAD refund claim filed within the prescribed time but before the wrong Customs authority was maintainable. (ii) Whether refund claims filed beyond the period of one year prescribed in the notification were admissible.

Issue (i): Whether SAD refund claim filed within the prescribed time but before the wrong Customs authority was maintainable.

Analysis: The refund claim relating to the concerned Bills of Entry was filed within the statutory time limit, though before the Baroda Commissionerate instead of the proper Nhava Sheva Customs authority. The claim had already been accepted in principle by precedent relied upon by the Tribunal, which treated timely filing before an incorrect authority as not fatal to the refund entitlement.

Conclusion: The refund was admissible and the rejection of Rs. 2,58,412/- was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether refund claims filed beyond the period of one year prescribed in the notification were admissible.

Analysis: For the remaining Bills of Entry, the refund claim was lodged after expiry of the one-year period prescribed under the notification. The statutory limitation was treated as mandatory, and no relaxation was applied.

Conclusion: The belated refund claims were not admissible and were rightly rejected.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded only to the extent of the timely refund claims filed before the wrong authority, while the time-barred claims remained rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: A refund claim filed within the statutory period is not defeated merely because it was presented before an incorrect authority, but a claim filed beyond the prescribed limitation under the refund notification is not maintainable.

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