Eligibility certificate not required for special rebate application, but delayed filing under the notification remained time-barred.

Notification No. 20/2007-CE required a manufacturer seeking special rebate or rate to apply in writing to the Commissioner by 30 September of the relevant financial year, with only a further 30-day condonable period. No provision in the notification made an eligibility certificate a prerequisite for filing that application, and prior refund claims had been filed without waiting for such a certificate. A communication dated 14/05/2010 was treated only as an intimation of eligibility, not the required certificate. The application filed on 24/05/2010 was therefore beyond the prescribed time and was rightly rejected as time-barred.

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Issues: Whether an eligibility certificate was a precondition for claiming fixation of special rebate/rate under Notification No. 20/2007-CE dated 25/04/2007, and whether the application filed after the prescribed date was barred by limitation.

Analysis: The notification required a manufacturer seeking special rebate/rate to apply in writing to the Commissioner by 30 September of the relevant financial year, with a further condonable period of 30 days. The record did not show any provision in the notification making an eligibility certificate a prerequisite for submitting such application. The appellant had also been filing regular refund claims under the same notification without waiting for any eligibility certificate, and the communication dated 14/05/2010 was treated only as an intimation of eligibility, not as the required certificate. The special rebate/rate application was filed on 24/05/2010, well beyond the prescribed time.

Conclusion: The claim could have been filed without an eligibility certificate, and the delayed application was rightly rejected as time-barred. The decision went against the assessee.

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