Refund of duty paid under protest survives where assessable value remained disputed and assessment was not finally concluded.

Duty paid under protest during a continuing dispute on assessable value remained refundable where the department's own correspondence showed that assessment was not finally concluded. The assessee's consistent protest in the price-lists and G.P.1 forms preserved the right to claim refund, and limitation did not bar the claim in that statutory setting. The absence of a separate appeal against earlier price-list approvals or RT-12 assessments did not defeat refund where the later departmental order indicated that pending assessments were still to be finalised in accordance with the revised price-list decision. The refund claim was therefore maintainable.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to refund of excise duty paid under protest for the relevant period notwithstanding that no appeal had been filed against approval of the price-lists or assessment of the RT-12 returns.

Analysis: The dispute regarding assessable value remained pending before the Department for several years. The assessee consistently recorded protest in the price-lists and G.P.1 forms, and the Department's correspondence showed that the matter was still under consideration. The later order approving the price-list for 1980 reflected that the pending assessments were to be finalised in accordance with that decision, which supported the conclusion that the earlier assessments were not treated as conclusively final. Payment under protest protected the assessee's right to seek refund, and the limitation bar did not apply where duty had been so paid under the statutory scheme.

Conclusion: The refund claim was maintainable and the assessee was entitled to refund; the absence of an appeal against the earlier price-list approvals did not defeat the claim.

Ratio Decidendi: Where duty is paid under protest during a subsisting dispute as to assessable value, and the departmental action shows that the matter was not finally concluded, refund cannot be denied merely because no separate appeal was filed against the earlier price-list approval or assessment.

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