Refund maintainability depends on first challenging the duty assessment; claim remanded for reconsideration and hearing.

Refund cannot be entertained directly where the duty liability was determined under exemption notifications and that determination was not first challenged or modified in accordance with law. The appellant paid the duty under protest but filed the refund claim without seeking reversal of the underlying assessment or departmental order. Applying the rule that refund lies only after the assessment or self-assessment is set aside or amended, the maintainability of the claim had to be examined at the adjudication stage. The matter was remanded to the adjudicating authority for reconsideration after giving the appellant an opportunity of hearing.

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Issues: Whether refund could be claimed directly without first challenging the assessment or departmental determination of duty liability, and whether the matter required remand for reconsideration of that aspect.

Analysis: The duty foregone was computed after determining the applicability of the exemption notifications, and the appellant paid the amount under protest without disputing that determination at the relevant stage. The refund claim was filed directly without seeking modification of the assessment or the underlying departmental order. Applying the principle that refund cannot be entertained unless the assessment or self-assessment is first set aside or modified in accordance with law, the issue of maintainability of the refund claim required examination by the adjudicating authority.

Conclusion: The refund claim could not be examined straightaway without addressing the challenge to the assessment determination, and the matter was remanded to the adjudicating authority for reconsideration after giving the appellant an opportunity of hearing.

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