Refund of duty on goods destroyed in destructive testing where the governing rule treats such destruction as unavoidable accident.

Duty paid on gas cylinders destroyed in prescribed destructive testing was treated as refundable where the governing clearance rule allowed waiver for goods lost or destroyed by natural cause or unavoidable accident during handling or storage. The text states that testing done to meet required testing standards fell within "unavoidable accident", and once waiver was legally available in that situation, refund was equally permissible for duty already paid. The claim for refund was therefore allowed.

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Issues: Whether duty paid on gas cylinders destroyed in destructive testing could be refunded, and whether such destruction was covered by the proviso to the clearance rule as an unavoidable accident.

Analysis: The cylinders were entered in RG 1 and were therefore treated as fully manufactured goods. However, the governing rule on clearance on payment of duty contained a proviso empowering waiver where goods were lost or destroyed by natural cause or unavoidable accident during handling or storage. Destructive testing undertaken to satisfy the prescribed testing requirements was held to fall within the expression "unavoidable accident". Once the law authorised waiver of duty in such a situation, refund was equally permissible where duty had already been paid.

Conclusion: The denial of refund was unsustainable and the refund claim was allowed.

Final Conclusion: The duty collected on cylinders destroyed in destructive testing was refundable because such destruction was treated as an unavoidable accident under the governing rules.

Ratio Decidendi: Where duty-paid goods are destroyed in unavoidable accident-like destructive testing covered by the clearance proviso, duty already paid is refundable.

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