Finality of prior abatement rejection bars clubbing a later refund claim based on separate duty payment.

Refund of proportionate duty was held inadmissible where the claim related to a distinct duty payment for a separate period, and the assessee had already allowed a prior abatement rejection on the sealed machine to attain finality. The tribunal treated the earlier rejection as settled and held that a fresh refund claim could not be clubbed with that concluded issue to indirectly reopen it. The refund claim was therefore rejected because separate duty payments and separate proceedings cannot be combined to defeat a final order on the related abatement dispute.

---

---

Issues: Whether refund of proportionate duty paid for the machine operated during 16.07.2014 to 31.07.2014 was admissible, and whether that claim could be clubbed with the earlier rejected abatement-related claim.

Analysis: Duty had been paid separately for the pouches of MRP Rs. 5.00 and for the pouches of MRP Rs. 2.80. The earlier claim for abatement relating to the sealed machine had already been rejected and that rejection had attained finality because it was not challenged. The refund claim under consideration was for a distinct period and a distinct duty payment, and the two proceedings could not be combined to seek relief against a settled issue.

Conclusion: The refund was not admissible, and the claim was rightly rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Separate refund claims based on distinct duty payments cannot be clubbed to defeat a prior order that has attained finality on the related abatement issue.

---