Rebate claim limitation under Notification 41/2012-ST runs from let export order date, not section 11B, and late claims are time-barred.

Rebate claims for service tax under Notification No. 41/2012-ST were held to be governed by the notification's own limitation clause, not by section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944. Condition 3(g) required filing within one year from the date of export, and the notification defined that date by reference to the Customs officer's clearance and loading permission under section 51 of the Customs Act, so limitation ran from the let export order date. Claims filed after that period were time-barred, and authorities cited for a different limitation framework were treated as inapplicable.

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Issues: Whether the refund claim for rebate of service tax under Notification No. 41/2012-ST was barred by limitation and whether the period of limitation had to be reckoned from the date of let export order or with reference to section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Analysis: The rebate was claimed under a notification that prescribed its own condition for limitation. Condition 3(g) required the claim to be filed within one year from the date of export, and the notification explained that the date of export is the date on which the proper officer of Customs permits clearance and loading for export under section 51 of the Customs Act, 1962. The limitation therefore ran from the date of let export order. The notification was treated as a self-contained scheme, and section 11B was not incorporated for computing limitation. As the rejected claims were filed beyond one year from the relevant let export order dates, they were time-barred. The decisions relied upon by the appellant were held inapplicable because they did not concern the same express limitation framework.

Conclusion: The refund claim was correctly held to be time-barred, and the rejection of the claim was upheld.

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