Final excise duty determination bars relitigation and requires refund of excess duty collected beyond the confirmed liability.

A final appellate determination limiting excise duty to the differential value could not be reopened by the Department once it had attained finality. Because the earlier order was not challenged, the duty liability stood conclusively fixed and the Department had no basis to retain amounts collected beyond that liability. The refund claim was therefore treated as a consequential enforcement of the final appellate decision, and the excess excise duty was refundable to the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the respondent was entitled to refund of the excess excise duty appropriated by the Department after an earlier appellate order restricting liability to duty on the differential value had attained finality.

Analysis: An earlier order of the appellate authority had already determined that duty was payable only on the differential value and not again on the portion on which duty had been discharged. That order was not challenged by the Department and therefore attained finality. Once the duty liability stood conclusively limited by that order, the Department could not reopen the issue or retain the amount collected in excess of the liability finally determined. The claim for refund was thus only a consequential enforcement of the final appellate determination.

Conclusion: The respondent was entitled to refund of the excess amount, and the Department's objection was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: A final appellate determination of excise duty liability cannot be relitigated by the Department, and any amount collected in excess of that final liability is refundable to the assessee.

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