Actual date of duty payment governs refund limitation; erroneous challan stamps cannot extend the filing period.

Refund of Special Additional Duty under Notification No. 6/2008 was held to be governed by the actual date of duty deposit, not by an erroneous later date stamped on the TR-6 challan. Where bank records showed that duty had in fact been paid earlier, that earlier payment date remained the relevant date for the one-year refund limitation. A wrongly stamped challan could not extend or alter the statutory filing period. On that basis, the refund claim was treated as time-barred and the rejection of the claim was upheld.

---

---

Issues: Whether the refund claim of Special Additional Duty was barred by limitation under Notification No. 6/2008, where the duty was actually paid on dates earlier than the dates stamped on the TR-6 challans.

Analysis: The duty had in fact been deposited on the earlier dates reflected by the bank report, and the bank stamps on the challans showing later dates were found to be erroneous. The notification required the refund to be filed within one year from the date of payment of duty. The relevant date under the notification could not be altered by treating the wrongly stamped challan date as the date of payment, and the actual date of deposit remained decisive for limitation.

Conclusion: The refund claim was time-barred, and the rejection of the claim was upheld.

---