SAD refund cannot be denied for minor invoice description mismatch when records and auditor certificate establish correlation.

Refund of special additional duty under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus. depends on correlation between the imported goods and the goods sold, supported by original ST/VAT payment documents and a statutory auditor or chartered accountant certificate. A mere mismatch in wording, including abbreviated invoice descriptions that do not exactly match the bill of entry, does not by itself defeat the claim where the records otherwise establish identity and quantity correlation. Hyper-technical insistence on identical descriptions is unwarranted when the imported and sold goods can be reliably linked. The refund claim was therefore allowed with applicable interest.

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Issues: Whether refund of special additional duty under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus. could be denied merely because the sale invoices described the imported goods in abbreviated form and the description did not exactly match the bill of entry, when a statutory auditor or chartered accountant certificate and supporting documents established correlation between the imported and sold goods.

Analysis: The refund notification and the clarificatory circular required production of original ST/VAT payment documents along with a certificate from the statutory auditor or chartered accountant correlating payment of tax on the imported goods with the sale invoices. The description in the invoices was found to be only an abbreviated form of the imported product description, and the quantity correlation was supported by the record. The certificate issued by the statutory auditor was treated as relevant supporting evidence for establishing correlation, and a hyper-technical insistence on identical wording was held to be unwarranted where the goods sold could be identified as the imported goods.

Conclusion: The refund could not be denied on the ground of mere mismatch in description, and the assessee was entitled to the refund with applicable interest.

Final Conclusion: The denial of SAD refund was set aside and the refund claims were directed to be granted.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the refund notification and clarificatory circular require correlation between imported goods and the goods sold, a chartered accountant or statutory auditor certificate supported by the records can establish such correlation, and a mere difference in descriptive wording will not defeat the refund claim if identity of the goods is otherwise proved.

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