Interest on refunded excise duty runs only from the refund order date where the claim was time-barred and granted in writ jurisdiction.

Interest on refunded excise duty was held payable only from the date of the writ court's refund order, not from the date of the belated refund application. The refund claim was time-barred and could be granted only under Article 226, so the earlier application date could not determine the start of interest. The court modified the interest direction accordingly and limited the liability to the period after the refund order, in favour of the Revenue.

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Issues: Whether interest on the refunded excise duty amount was payable from the date of the refund application or only from the date of the writ court's refund order.

Analysis: The refund application was made long after the last payment of duty and was clearly barred by time. The refund could be granted only in exercise of writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. In those circumstances, the award of interest could not run from the date of the belated refund application and was confined to the date of the refund order.

Conclusion: Interest was not payable from the date of the refund application; it was payable only from the date of the order granting refund, and the direction granting earlier interest was modified accordingly, in favour of the Revenue.

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