Statutory refund relief cannot be curtailed by a press note imposing a consumer pass-on requirement.

Refund claims under exemption and relief notifications issued under Rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 could not be rejected on the basis of a press note or an administrative assumption that the duty relief had to be passed on to consumers. In the absence of any such condition in the statutory notification, administrative guidance could not curtail the relief granted by the notification or govern the quasi-judicial determination of refund entitlement. The separate valuation argument under Section 4(4)(d)(2) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 did not change the position, because the issue was the admissibility of statutory relief, not valuation-based passing on of duty incidence.

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Issues: Whether the rejection of the refund claims on the ground that the relief had not been passed on to consumers was sustainable, and whether the valuation argument based on Section 4(4)(d)(2) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 affected the petitioner's entitlement.

Analysis: The refund claim arose under the exemption and relief notifications issued under Rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944. The impugned rejection rested solely on a press note and on an administrative assumption that the duty relief must be passed on to consumers. In the absence of any such condition in the statutory notification, the administrative direction could not restrict the relief granted by the notification or control the quasi-judicial determination of the refund claim. The additional contention based on Section 4(4)(d)(2) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 did not alter the position, because the question was whether the statutory relief itself was admissible and not whether the incidence had been passed on as a matter of valuation.

Conclusion: The rejection of the refund claims was unlawful, and the petitioner was entitled to have the refund claims reconsidered without importing the consumer-pass-on requirement from the press note.

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