Refund appeal limited to the disputed Consumer Welfare Fund issue; appellate authority cannot decide an unraised finality objection.

Refund proceedings must be confined to the precise issue raised on appeal: where the adjudicating authority had already sanctioned refund, the appellate authority could not reject the appeal by shifting to an unraised objection that the assessment order had attained finality. The only live question was whether the sanctioned refund could be credited to the Consumer Welfare Fund under Section 28D of the Customs Act, and the Revenue had not challenged the sanction itself. The appellate order was therefore unsustainable and was set aside, with the matter remanded to the Commissioner (Appeals) for fresh decision in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the Commissioner (Appeals) was justified in rejecting the refund appeal on the ground that the assessment order had attained finality, instead of deciding the challenge to credit of the refund amount to the Consumer Welfare Fund under Section 28D of the Customs Act.

Analysis: The refund had already been sanctioned by the adjudicating authority, and the only dispute before the appellate authority was whether the sanctioned amount could be credited to the Consumer Welfare Fund by invoking Section 28D. The appellate authority could not travel beyond that limited issue and decide the appeal on an unraised question regarding non-challenge to the assessment order, particularly when the Revenue had not questioned the refund sanction itself.

Conclusion: The appellate order was held to be unsustainable and was set aside, and the matter was remanded to the Commissioner (Appeals) for fresh decision in accordance with law.

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