Unjust enrichment does not bar refund of excise duty paid under protest after classification is accepted at the lower rate.

Duty paid under protest pending classification approval was held refundable once the revised classification was accepted under the lower heading. The Court ruled that unjust enrichment does not apply where excise duty is paid under protest, and repeated contrary reliance by the Department could not sustain rejection of the refund claim. Because the excess levy was no longer justified after the classification issue was resolved in the assessee's favour, the show cause notice seeking to deny refund was treated as without jurisdiction and unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the doctrine of unjust enrichment could be invoked to deny refund of excess excise duty paid under protest, and whether the show cause notice proposing rejection of the refund claim was without jurisdiction.

Analysis: The petitioners had paid duty at the higher rate under protest pending approval of a revised classification list, and the revised classification was subsequently accepted under Heading 8537 instead of Heading 8536.90. The Court held that the principle of unjust enrichment had no application where duty was paid under protest. It further held that repeated decisions of the Court had already rejected the reliance placed on the earlier contrary view, and therefore the Department could not sustain the refund proceedings solely on that basis. Once the levy was found payable only under the lower heading, the excess amount could not be retained by the Department by resort to the impugned notice.

Conclusion: The show cause notice seeking to deny refund was without jurisdiction and liable to be quashed; the refund claim was maintainable in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Excess excise duty paid under protest was refundable, and the Department could not invoke unjust enrichment to defeat the claim after the classification issue was decided in the assessee's favour.

Ratio Decidendi: The doctrine of unjust enrichment does not bar refund of excise duty paid under protest, and a refund notice founded solely on that doctrine is unsustainable once the correct classification entitles the assessee to the lower duty rate.

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