Binding circular on export rebate requires cash refund, not Cenvat re-credit, once the claim is admissible.

A binding departmental circular required rebate of excise duty paid through actual or deemed credit on exported goods to be refunded in cash, leaving no discretion to substitute re-credit in the Cenvat Credit Account. The court treated the circular as binding on the department and held that, once rebate claims were found admissible, they had to be sanctioned in cash. The Revenue's reliance on an earlier decision was rejected as factually distinguishable, and the challenge therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether the rebate of excise duty paid through the credit account on exported goods was required to be sanctioned in cash or by way of re-credit in the Cenvat Credit Account.

Analysis: The Board's circular clarified that duty paid through actual credit or deemed credit account on exported goods must be refunded in cash, leaving no discretion with the sanctioning authority. The earlier decision relied upon by the Revenue was distinguishable on its facts. The circular was binding on the department, and the rebate claims, once found admissible, could not be redirected into re-credit in the Cenvat Credit Account.

Conclusion: The rebate had to be sanctioned in cash, not by re-credit, and the challenge by the Revenue failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A binding departmental circular requiring rebate on exported goods paid through credit to be refunded in cash leaves no discretion to grant re-credit instead.

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