Refund of accumulated cenvat credit for education cesses under GST transitional provisions allowed on precedent; appeal granted.

Refund of accumulated unutilised cenvat credit relating to Education Cess and Secondary Education Cess under GST transitional provisions was allowed by the tribunal on reliance on prior decisions granting similar relief; the tribunal found the precedents squarely covered the claim and allowed the appeal, granting consequential relief including cash refund. The decision treats prior rulings as determinative for entitlement to refund of balances standing on the specified cutoff date and orders refund accordingly.

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Issues: Whether the assessee is entitled to refund of the balance of Education Cess and Secondary & Higher Education Cess forming part of accumulated unutilised CENVAT credit as on 30.06.2017 under the transition provisions despite an initial under-claim and a belated attempt to rectify the refund claim under the GST regime.

Analysis: The issue was examined on the factual premise that the eligible tax credit for education cesses as on 30.06.2017 exceeded the amount claimed by the assessee due to an inadvertent under-claim, and the assessee later sought to file a revised refund under the GST regime but was unable to do so and ultimately filed for refund of the unutilised CENVAT credit. The matter is covered by earlier decisions permitting refund of education and secondary & higher education cesses lying in balance as on 30.06.2017 in similar circumstances; those precedents were relied upon and no contrary authority was shown by the respondent. In view of the cited binding/precedential authorities on the identical question, the legal position favours allowing the refund claim with consequential reliefs.

Conclusion: The appeal is allowed and the refund of the balance education cess and secondary & higher education cess forming part of accumulated unutilised CENVAT credit as on 30.06.2017 is granted in favour of the assessee with consequential relief.

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