Unjust enrichment bars excise refund unless the claimant proves duty was not passed on through the sale price.

In a refund claim governed by unjust enrichment, finalisation of provisional assessment does not by itself entitle the assessee to refund of excise duty. A composite sale price in invoices is not sufficient to prove that the duty burden was not passed on, because the price may include multiple components and still absorb the duty element. The claimant must affirmatively establish that incidence of duty was not transferred to buyers. A plea of vested right to refund cannot override this bar where passing on is not disproved. On the material placed, the refund claim failed and the partial refund order was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to refund of excise duty paid on finalisation of provisional assessment without establishing that the duty burden had not been passed on, and whether the plea based on composite pricing or vested right could defeat the refund bar.

Analysis: The refund claim arose after finalisation of assessment. The invoices showing a composite price did not, by themselves, establish that the incidence of duty had not been passed on, because the sale price may reflect several components and the duty element may still have been absorbed within it. The burden under the refund law remained on the claimant to prove that the duty burden was not transferred to buyers. The plea of a vested right to refund was also rejected, as no such enforceable right exists where the duty burden has been passed on. The decisions relied upon by the assessee did not alter this position.

Conclusion: The refund was not admissible to the assessee on the material placed, and the department was entitled to succeed.

Final Conclusion: The order granting partial refund was set aside and the assessee's refund claim failed for want of proof that the duty incidence had not been passed on.

Ratio Decidendi: In a refund claim governed by unjust enrichment, a composite sale price does not by itself prove non-passing of duty, and the claimant must affirmatively establish that the duty burden was not transferred.

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