Refund limitation under protest runs from disposal of the protest, not indefinitely from the original duty payment.

Refund claims under Section 11B remain subject to limitation even where duty was paid under protest. While limitation does not run during the subsistence of the protest, it is not indefinitely suspended; once the competent authority disposes of the protest and that disposal takes effect, the limitation period is linked to that event. A claimant cannot rely on the original protest payment to bypass the statutory time bar if the protest was finally decided long before the refund application. On these principles, the refund claim was held time-barred.

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Issues: Whether the buyers' refund claim under Section 11B was barred by limitation, and whether payment of duty under protest kept limitation in abeyance until the protest was finally disposed of.

Analysis: The refund claim by a buyer is governed by the limitation prescribed under Section 11B. Where the duty is paid under protest, limitation does not begin to run while the protest subsists, but it cannot be treated as permanently suspended. Once the competent authority passes an order disposing of the protest and that order takes effect, the relevant date for limitation is linked to that disposal. A buyer cannot avoid limitation merely because the original duty payment was under protest if the final order on the protest was passed long before the refund application.

Conclusion: The refund claim was rightly held to be time-barred, and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For refund claims under Section 11B, limitation in cases of duty paid under protest runs from the disposal of the protest by the competent authority, and the protest does not suspend limitation indefinitely.

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