Rule 173L refund applies to returned excisable goods retested, rechecked and recalibrated before resale.

Goods returned to the factory after being left undelivered and subjected to retesting, rechecking and recalibration before resale were treated as falling within Rule 173L of the Central Excise Rules, 1944. The processes were considered analogous to reconditioning and covered by the expression "any other similar process in the factory," so the returned excisable goods qualified for duty refund.

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Issues: Whether goods returned to the factory after being left undelivered to the customer, and subjected to retesting, rechecking and recalibration before resale, fell within Rule 173L of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 so as to entitle the assessee to refund of duty.

Analysis: Rule 173L permits refund of duty on manufactured excisable goods returned to the factory for being remade, refined, reconditioned or subjected to any other similar process. The returned instruments were sophisticated and sensitive goods which required further processing to make them fit for resale to other customers. The processes of retesting, rechecking and recalibration were treated as processes analogous to reconditioning and as falling within the expression "any other similar process in the factory".

Conclusion: The returned goods and the processes carried out on them were covered by Rule 173L, and the assessee was entitled to refund of duty.

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