Special Additional Duty refund limitation runs from sale of imported goods, when the refund right actually accrues.

Refund of Special Additional Duty under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus. accrues only when the imported goods are sold and the refund conditions are satisfied. On that basis, the limitation period for filing the refund claim runs from the date of sale, not from import or any earlier date. As the goods were substantially sold in December 2016 but the refund application was filed only in March 2018, and the delay was unexplained, the claim was treated as barred by limitation. The earlier Delhi High Court decisions were distinguished because they concerned cases where the goods had not yet been sold and the refund right had not accrued.

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Issues: Whether the refund claim of Special Additional Duty was barred by limitation under the amended refund notification, and whether the limitation period had to be computed from the date of sale of the imported goods.

Analysis: The refund under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus. was held to accrue only when the imported goods were sold and the statutory conditions for refund were satisfied. The imported goods had been substantially sold in December 2016, but the refund application was filed only in March 2018. Since the right to claim refund had arisen on sale, the assessee was required to apply within a reasonable time thereafter. The earlier Delhi High Court decisions were distinguished because, in those cases, the goods had not yet been sold and the refund right had not accrued. Here, the amended notification was held to be applicable and the delay remained unexplained.

Conclusion: The refund claim was rightly held to be barred by limitation, and the rejection of refund was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: In claims for refund of Special Additional Duty under the refund notification, the limitation period is computed from the date on which the imported goods are sold, because the right to refund accrues only on such sale.

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