SAD refund under customs exemption notification required invoice stamping proof and fresh factual verification before reconsideration.

Refund of special additional duty under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus depended on compliance with the invoice-stamping condition showing that buyers were not entitled to CENVAT credit after subsequent sale on payment of VAT or sales tax. The adjudicating authority's findings on whether the invoices were stamped were inconsistent, and a Chartered Accountant certificate had been produced to support the claim that the SAD burden had not been passed on to buyers. In view of this evidentiary uncertainty and Tribunal precedent treating such material as relevant to the notification's anti-misuse object, the factual position required fresh examination. The impugned order was set aside and the matter remanded for reconsideration.

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Issues: Whether refund of special additional duty under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus dated 17.9.2007 was admissible where the record was unclear on stamping of invoices to show that buyers were not entitled to CENVAT credit and the adjudicating authority recorded inconsistent findings.

Analysis: The notification required that, upon subsequent sale of the imported goods on payment of VAT or sales tax, the invoice should bear a stamp indicating that the purchaser would not be entitled to CENVAT credit of the special additional duty. The adjudicating authority's findings on whether the invoices were stamped were self-contradictory. It was also noted that a Chartered Accountant certificate had been produced to show that no credit had been passed on to the buyers, and Tribunal precedent had treated such evidence as relevant for the object of preventing misuse of SAD credit. In these circumstances, the factual position required fresh examination.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded to the original adjudicating authority for reconsideration in the light of the Tribunal decisions referred to in the order.

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