Export-linked service tax refund cannot be denied for curable procedural defects when substantive eligibility is satisfied.

Refund under Notification No. 41/2012-ST for service tax paid on specified taxable services used in export of goods was held not to fail on technical objections where the substantive conditions were otherwise met. The record showed scrutiny of shipping bills, invoices and supporting documents, and the refund had already been sanctioned after acceptance of the claim's core eligibility. The alleged absence of a cross-objection and the later availability of a Chartered Accountant's certificate were treated as curable defects, not as grounds to defeat the refund. As export of goods and payment of service tax on the relevant input services were undisputed, the substantive exemption benefit could not be denied on procedural grounds.

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Issues: Whether refund of Service Tax paid on specified taxable services used for export of goods under Notification No. 41/2012-ST dated 29.06.2012 could be denied on the grounds that no cross-objection was filed and the Chartered Accountant's certificate was not available before the lower appellate authority.

Analysis: The refund claim had been scrutinised by the adjudicating authority on the basis of the shipping bills, invoices and other documents, and the admissible amount had been sanctioned after finding that the conditions of the notification were substantially satisfied. The rejection by the lower appellate authority rested mainly on the alleged absence of a cross-objection and the non-availability of the Chartered Accountant's certificate. Such defects were treated as curable matters and not as grounds to defeat a claim otherwise supported by the record. Since the export of goods and payment of service tax on specified input services were not in dispute, the refund scheme was held to be applicable and substantive exemption benefit could not be denied on technical grounds.

Conclusion: The denial of refund was unsustainable and the refund sanctioned by the adjudicating authority was restored in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the assessee's refund claim stood allowed with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: A refund under an export-linked notification cannot be rejected on purely procedural or technical deficiencies where the substantive conditions for admissibility are otherwise satisfied on the record.

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