Refund on self-assessed bills of entry requires prior reassessment before the assessment can be challenged through refund proceedings.

Refund of excess infrastructure cess paid on self-assessment was held not maintainable because the bills of entry had not been reassessed or otherwise modified through the statutory mechanism before the refund claim. The self-assessment had attained finality, and the refund authority could not indirectly undo that assessment while considering refund. Rejection of the refund was therefore justified.

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Issues: Whether refund of excess infrastructure cess paid on self-assessment was maintainable without first getting the bills of entry reassessed or modified in accordance with law.

Analysis: The refund claim arose from payment of infrastructure cess at 4% on self-assessment, whereas the appellant sought the concessional rate of 1% under the relevant notification. The decisive legal position applied was that a refund cannot be entertained unless the assessment or self-assessment is first modified by recourse to the appropriate statutory proceeding. Since the bills of entry were filed under self-assessment and were not challenged or reassessed before the refund claim, the self-assessment had attained finality. In such a situation, the refund authority could not proceed to effectively undo the assessment while considering the refund.

Conclusion: The refund claim was not maintainable without reassessment of the bills of entry, and rejection of the refund was justified.

Ratio Decidendi: A refund claim based on a self-assessed bill of entry cannot be allowed unless the assessment is first modified or reassessed in accordance with the statutory mechanism.

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