Refund re-quantification beyond jurisdiction after final refund order; assessee entitled to refund with interest.

Once a refund order had already determined the excess tax payable to the assessee, the refund authority could not reopen the matter by issuing a fresh notice and re-quantifying the refund while processing the same application. In the absence of any provision authorising re-adjudication or revision of its own completed refund order, the impugned notice was beyond jurisdiction. The assessee was therefore entitled to refund of the amount already determined, together with interest.

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Issues: Whether the refund authority could, after passing a refund order determining excess tax payable to the assessee, issue a fresh notice and re-quantify the refund amount while processing the refund application, and whether the assessee was entitled to refund with interest.

Analysis: The refund order had already determined the excess tax amount payable to the assessee. Once such an order was passed, the same authority could not, in the course of processing the refund application, reopen the matter and call for particulars as though it intended to revise its own order. In the absence of any provision authorising such re-adjudication or re-quantification, the impugned notice was beyond jurisdiction. The assessee was therefore entitled to refund of the amount determined in the refund order together with interest.

Conclusion: The notice was held to be without jurisdiction and the assessee's claim for refund with interest was accepted.

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