Refund on Special Additional Duty payment through duty-paying scrip allowed where the notification imposed no payment-mode restriction.

Refund under Notification No. 102/2007-Customs cannot be denied merely because the Special Additional Duty was paid through a duty-paying scrip, where the notification itself imposes no restriction on the mode of payment. A later public notice or administrative instruction cannot override the notification or defeat the refund claim. The existence of a stay on a higher court order does not remove the legal force of the existing judgment relied upon, and the absence of any express prohibition in the notification governs entitlement to refund.

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Issues: Whether refund of Special Additional Duty under Notification No. 102/2007-Customs could be denied on the ground that the duty at the time of import had been paid by utilising a duty paying scrip.

Analysis: The notification did not prescribe any restriction as to the mode of payment of duty, and there was nothing in it to exclude payment through duty paying scrip. A subsequent public notice could not override the notification so as to defeat the refund claim. The stay of a higher court order did not efface the legal force of the existing judgment relied upon, and the absence of any express prohibition in the notification governed the claim.

Conclusion: The refund could not be rejected merely because duty had been paid through a duty paying scrip, and the assessee was entitled to the refund.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the refund notification imposes no restriction on the mode of duty payment, refund cannot be denied on the basis of a later administrative instruction or public notice inconsistent with the notification.

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