Tribunal allows separate refund claims for different Bills of Entry in same month.

The Tribunal held that filing two separate refund claims for additional duty of customs under a specific notification for different Bills of Entry in the same month is not illegal. The appellant's argument that circulars allow consolidation of claims for goods sold within a month was accepted. The Tribunal clarified that the restriction is on a per Bill of Entry basis, not for multiple claims on different Bills of Entry in the same month. The Adjudicating Authority was directed to grant the refund for the second claim within 60 days with interest, as there was no procedural error in filing multiple claims.

---

---

Issues involved:
Whether filing two refund claims for SAD under Notification No.102/07/CUS, with respect to two separate Bills of Entry, within the same calendar month constitutes an illegality.

Analysis:
The appellant filed two refund claims for additional duty of customs paid under Section 3(5) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 for subsequent sales in India. One claim was for Rs. 52,95,352 and the other for Rs. 6,82,852 in October 2013. The refund granting authority rejected the second claim, stating that as per relevant notifications and circulars, an importer can file only one refund claim in a month for refund of SAD. The rejection was upheld by the Commissioner (Appeal).

The appellant argued that the circular No. 6/2008/CUS was misinterpreted, citing that it allows for filing a single claim against a particular Bill of Entry within a year and consolidating cases where goods are sold within a month into a single refund claim. The appellant also referred to a Tribunal ruling in a similar case where it was held that administrative instructions or circulars are binding on departmental officers but cannot go beyond statutory provisions.

The Tribunal, after considering the arguments, found that there is no restriction for an assessee to file separate refund claims in a particular month with respect to different Bills of Entry. It clarified that the restriction is specific to a particular Bill of Entry, and there is no prohibition on filing multiple refund claims for different Bills of Entry in the same month. The Tribunal directed the Adjudicating Authority to grant the refund for the second claim of Rs. 6,82,852 filed in October 2013, within 60 days with interest as per rules, stating that there was no illegality or procedural infirmity in making two refund claims for different Bills of Entry in the same month.

---