Transitional GST refund rights preserve service tax claims, with limitation inapplicable where unjust enrichment remains the only bar.

Transitional GST saving provisions protect refund claims arising from service tax paid under the earlier regime, so such claims remain maintainable after GST implementation. The Tribunal treated accrued transitional rights as preserved and noted that limitation cannot be used to defeat the claim where the substantive entitlement survives. The remaining material inquiry is whether the refund is barred by unjust enrichment on the facts, and the matter was remitted for consideration of the claim on merits subject to that issue.

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Issues: Whether the refund claim of service tax and cess paid under reverse charge mechanism was admissible under the transitional provisions of GST, and whether the claim could be denied on limitation when the only surviving objection was unjust enrichment.

Analysis: The refund arose from tax paid under the erstwhile service tax regime, while the claim was pursued after GST implementation. The transitional provisions preserve rights accrued under the repealed law and require such claims to be dealt with in accordance with the existing law, with the amount eventually payable in cash. The Tribunal relied on its earlier view that transitional credit is a protected vested right and that, for refund claims under the transitional framework, the ordinary limitation objection does not operate in the same manner. The only material enquiry left is whether unjust enrichment applies on the facts.

Conclusion: The refund claim was held to be maintainable under the transitional GST provisions and could not be rejected on limitation alone. The matter was remitted for consideration of the refund claim on merits, subject to examination of unjust enrichment.

Ratio Decidendi: Transitional rights and credits accrued under the repealed service tax regime are protected by the GST saving provisions, and a refund claim arising from such accrued credit cannot be defeated merely by limitation where the substantive entitlement remains intact, leaving unjust enrichment as the relevant bar.

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