Delayed refund interest accrues from the original refund application; remand proceedings do not reset the Section 11BB timeline.

Interest on delayed refund under Section 11BB of the Central Excise Act accrued from receipt of the original refund application, not from remand proceedings. The refund claim had remained pending through rejection and remand, and the later remand could not be treated as a fresh application. As the refund was not granted within the prescribed time from the original application, interest was payable on the delayed refund, and the contrary view treating the remand as a new claim was incorrect.

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Issues: Whether interest was payable on the delayed refund under Section 11BB of the Central Excise Act, 1944, where the refund claim had been filed long earlier and was ultimately sanctioned only after remand proceedings.

Analysis: The only refund application was the one originally made in 1990. The claim remained pending through repeated rejection and remand, and the later remand could not be treated as a fresh refund application. Section 11BB turns on receipt of the application for refund, and interest becomes payable when the refund is not granted within the prescribed time from that application.

Conclusion: Interest was payable on the delayed refund, and the contrary view treating the remand proceedings as a fresh application was incorrect.

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