Excise refund limitation: a timely credit request in RT-12 can save a later refund claim when the authority stays silent.

Promptly seeking credit for excess excise duty in the RT-12 return and before the proper officer can preserve the claim from a limitation objection where the authority remains silent and gives no direction to file a formal refund application. In this commentary, the later refund claim was treated as flowing from the original request for credit, so it was not time-barred. The substantive refund entitlement was not decided and was remitted for fresh consideration on merits.

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Issues: Whether the refund claim was barred by limitation when the assessee had earlier approached the Superintendent seeking credit in the RT-12 return for excess duty paid, and whether the later refund application should be treated as arising from that earlier request.

Analysis: The assessee had submitted a letter with the RT-12 return promptly after payment of excess duty and sought credit from the proper officer. The officer neither rejected the request nor directed the assessee to file a formal refund claim. The order treats this silence as inaction by the assessing authority and holds that the assessee should not be prejudiced by the officer's failure to respond. In the circumstances, the later refund application was construed as flowing from the earlier request for credit under the relevant excise procedure, and the limitation objection was rejected.

Conclusion: The claim was not time-barred, and the matter was sent back for decision of the refund claim on merits.

Final Conclusion: The assessee succeeded on the limitation issue, but the substantive refund question was left for fresh adjudication by the adjudicating authority.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an assessee promptly seeks credit for excess duty from the proper excise and the authority remains silent, the subsequent formal refund claim may be treated as originating from the original request, preventing rejection on limitation alone.

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