SEZ excise exemption extends to ancillary duties, with refund and interest available where duty was paid under protest.

Goods manufactured and exported from a Special Economic Zone were held not liable to Special Additional Excise Duty or Additional Duty of Excise because the charging provision under central excise law did not extend to such SEZ clearances. The Court applied the same exclusionary position to these ancillary duties, since they were founded on the principal excise charge and could not survive where the main levy was inapplicable. As the duty had been paid under protest, refund with statutory interest was maintainable.

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Issues: Whether goods manufactured and exported from a Special Economic Zone were liable to Special Additional Excise Duty and Additional Duty of Excise, and whether refund with interest was admissible on duty paid under protest.

Analysis: The liability to levy depended on whether the charging provision under the Central Excise law extended to goods manufactured in a Special Economic Zone. The duties in question were held to follow the same exclusionary position applicable to such SEZ clearances, and the statutory levy was not attracted. As the duties had been paid under protest, refund followed with statutory interest.

Conclusion: The goods manufactured in the Special Economic Zone were not liable to the impugned duties, and the refund claim with interest was maintainable. The Revenue's appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the principal excise levy does not extend to goods manufactured in a Special Economic Zone, ancillary surcharge or cess levies founded on the same charge also do not apply.

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