Refund claims under limitation rules: time-barred filing ends the matter without examination of refund merits.

Refund claims filed beyond six months from the date of payment of duty were held to be time-barred under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944. Explanation (B) fixed the relevant date for computing limitation, so the statutory period had to be calculated from that date. Once the claim was found outside the prescribed limitation, it could not be entertained and the merits of the refund did not require examination. The appeal was rejected on limitation grounds.

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Issues: Whether the refund claim was barred by limitation under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Analysis: The refund claims were filed beyond six months from the date of payment of duty. Explanation (B) to Section 11B fixes the relevant date for computing limitation, and the statutory period must be computed with reference to that date. The claim could not be entertained outside the limitation prescribed by the Act, and the merits of the refund did not require examination once the claim was found time-barred.

Conclusion: The refund claim was barred by limitation and the appeal was rejected on that ground.

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